What Makes Us Human?
by CecilaAlice
Summary: The world has ended and left a teenage girl with nothing but the clothes on her back. She thought she was alone until a one Rick Grimes comes to her rescue.
1. Weeks Gone By

**Hello! There probably aren't many of you Walking Dead fans out there that read fan-fiction, but to those of you who are out there, hi! I hope you enjoy this!**

**Now, I think this starts out kind of slow, but I've already got a good chunk of this story done with, written down, it should speed up here considerably once the actual story line does. I just wanted to go ahead and get this out there for y'all to see.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize!**

**Thanks again! Enjoy!**

Rick Grimes pulled the visor of his beat up police car down in front of his face and stared at the old family photo strapped down to its fabric. It was old and worn, the corners bent and you could see a fold mark or two but it was an otherwise decent picture. One of his favorites. His whole family was dressed for the occasion, his wife's long brown hair was pulled up in a nice, neat fashion, her smile as radiant as anything he'd ever seen. And his son, looking all spick and span, with his pearly white teeth glowing bright under the florescent lighting. They were happy then. He touched the glossy finish, thinking of how much he missed his family. His beautiful wife and his little boy. It made him all the more determined to find them. With newfound steam, he slid the picture inside his coat and popped the trunk of the car, grabbing his bag as he stepped out of the vehicle. He was completely out of gas and needed to find some soon. He still had quite a few more hours before dark, but it made him nervous, nonetheless. It wasn't safe outside anymore, not with those things wandering the streets. He looked down the road ahead of him, spotting a little white country house. Hoping maybe the people there had some gas they could spare him, he trudged up the driveway, two bags slung over his back and a red gas can in hand.

"Hello?" he called once he was in shouting distance. He dropped his burden in the gravel, adjusting his hat and took a few more steps toward the house, "Police officer out here. Can I borrow some gas?"

When there was no answer, he abandoned the gas can and made his way up the wooden steps to the front door, peering inside. He rapped on the door a few times and called out to anyone who might hear him, still to no reply. He looked around; cupping his hand to the other windows so he could see inside, but what he found wasn't exactly what he was looking for. Two bodies lay decaying in the back room. Flies and bugs surrounded them along with the blood that had poured out of their bodies after the gunshot that obviously killed them. It looked like the man had killed his wife before pulling the trigger on his own life. Rick shook his head in dismay and took a quick step away from the house, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. He was obviously not going to find gas or shelter here. He sat down on one of the garden benches when he noticed a pickup truck not too far from where he was sitting. Thinking he had nothing to lose he stood and pulled open the front door and checked for a key with no luck. Giving up, he started back for his bags, thinking he was probably going to have to walk till he found another means of transportation when a noise startled him. He froze where he was walking and stared at the bushes. He slowly pulled a gun from its holster and held it out in front of him, taking slow, silent steps towards where he thought the noise had come from. When he got close enough, he slowly pulled the greenery back and almost jumped when a pair of pale, thin, freckled arms was thrown in the air.

"Please, don't shoot!" a small, red headed girl was crouched in the dirt, shaking so bad he thought she would break. He let out a relieved breath.

"Please, I'm not armed and I'm not bit! Don't shoot, don't shoot!" she repeated. That was when he noticed he still had his gun pointed at her. He replaced it to his rightful place and held up his hands, signaling he meant no harm. She didn't move she just sat there, shaking; face turned away and arms up. Rick took this time to look her over. She looked young, late teens and extremely thin, as if she had not eaten more than a few pieces of bread in a week or two. Her strawberry blond hair was a mess, but he could see the loose curls that fell down her back. More freckles than he could count dotted her arms and legs that he could see from her forest green cargo shorts. Her ankle high, suede boots were worn and dirty like her loose fitting flannel shirt. When he didn't say anything, she reluctantly lifted her head to look at him, her hazel eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying and her freckles could hardly be seen under the layer of dirt that was all over her face. Rick's conclusion: she looked as if she had been through the Vietnam War and was never told it had ended. Her eyes were still watery and her hands trembled above her head. The girl was terrified, not that he could blame her.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Rick finally said. He took a step forward and she didn't move, but she watched him like a hawk. He held out his hand to her and she just stared at it as if she'd never seen one in her entire life.

"I promise." He gave a reassuring smile. She looked up at him in awe and slowly let her arms fall to her side, one hand falling into his. They lingered there for a moment and he waited patiently. This girl needed help, and he would be the one to give it to her. He helped her to her feet and their hands still connected them. She stared down at the grass then to his face, her eyes locked onto his when she completely broke down, tears streaming down her dirt covered cheeks. He hesitated, but wrapped his arms around her, patting her back and shushing her as semi-silent sobs wracked her fragile looking frame. He looked around where they stood and saw nothing that was keeping her here. She seemed to be alone, no vehicle, no pets, no weapons, not anything. It concerned him that she was so young and by herself, even in the state of things. It was almost worse because of the state of things. He hated to ask while she was so torn up, but he was afraid to stay in one place out in the open too long. Walkers could be anywhere.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but-"

"Rose." She breathed, cutting him off.

"I'm sorry, what-?"

"Rose. My name is Rose. Roslyn Kinsley. And I'm so sorry about this. But you're the first person I've seen that was alive in weeks."

"No, I understand. Times are hard. Is there anybody with you? Brother, sister? Parents?"

"They're dead. All of them, I'm the only one left." Her eyes flickered away for a moment, so he backed away from the subject of family.

"I see. Where were you headed?" he started looking around for any supplies he was going to need. If she didn't have anyone with her, he wasn't about to leave her alone. She needed to come with him before something really bad happened to her.

"Atlanta. I'd heard there was a refugee center there."

"Yeah, me too. That was the direction I was going. Why don't you tag along? Nobody needs to be out her by themselves like this."

"I don't want to be a burden."

"No, you won't. Do you have any bags or anything?"

"Just my backpack." She walked back to the bushes and reached in, pulling out a simple, navy colored pack and slipped her arms through the straps.

"Is that all you've got?"

"Yeah, I'll just put it in the car." She started for the vehicle but Rick put out a hand to stop her.

"There's no gas. We'll have to find another mode of transportation."

About that time, the sound of hooves in the dirt reached their ears and Rick peeked around the corner of the house. A full grown, chestnut colored horse was right behind a wooden fence munching on some grass. Rose came up behind him and leaned around the corner to see was he was looking at. She blinked at the animal and looked up at him. He sighed, "Ever ridden a horse before, Rosie?"

**I would just like to let you guys know that I do not take flames what. So. Ever. If I end up getting too many of them, I will take this down, whether I have people who like it or not. If I have enough people who want me to keep it up, then I will. But I do not deal with flames kindly.**

**This has been a public service announcement.**


	2. Cozy In There?

**Hmm, well, I got one reader(:**

**One or one thousand, here's chapter number two!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize!**

**Enjoy!**

After some searching Rick and Rose finally found some riding gear. They drug it out into the sunlight and cleaned it off as best they could. Most of it looked as if it had not been used in years, and it took them quite a while to make it usable, but they managed. While Rose finished up with the gear Rick took a makeshift lead rope and approached the horse. Rose watched from a distance on her knees in the grass trying to get the saddle clean and watch for any walkers that might have heard them piddling around the farm.

Rick approached the animal slowly and it whinnied in disapproval. Rose couldn't help but stifle a laugh. He gave her a look and she continued her cleaning, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"Easy now, easy. I'm not gonna hurt you. Nothing like that. More like a proposal. Atlanta's just down the road a ways. It's safe there—food, shelter, people. Other horses, too, I bet." He finally got close enough to put the rope around the horse's neck, "How's that sound?"

"That sounds wonderful." Rose breathed, falling back onto her feet. She took a deep breath, looking up at the bright blue sky and Rick chuckled, leading the animal out of the pasture. Rose stood and helped get the horse suited up and grabbed her backpack.

"Here, you first." Said Rick, "I'll help you up and the bag of guns can rest behind you. We'll put the strap around your waist. The other one can go on the saddle."

"Okay." She let him hoist her up into the saddle and scooted back a ways so he could sit comfortably and control the horse. Once everything was loaded and he was seated in front of her he grabbed hold of the reins.

"You all right back there?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his back.

"Just go easy, okay?" Rick told the horse, "I haven't done this for years."

But it was no use. The horse obviously had not been out of that tiny living space very often and as soon as Rick gave the signal, Rose squeaked as it took off down the road for Atlanta, full on galloping. Terrifying as it was, she couldn't help but laugh as she held tight to the guns around her waist and the other arm around Rick's torso so she would not fall off. After a half a mile or so the animal slowed to a steady walk, tired after its sudden burst of energy. They were pretty much quiet for the most part, simply enjoying the fact that neither of them was alone anymore. The scenery was nice, but every now and again they could see where a walker had been shot down, or there was a house or two that was boarded up or a complete wreck. It was depressing. Rose tried to look away, but if it was not something on one side of the road, there was something even more devastating on the other. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her head still leaning on Rick's back, trying to disappear from this world where civilization was a luxury not even the emperor of China could afford anymore. But after a while the silence began to drive Rose crazy. She could not stand to listen to one more _clop _of the horse's hoof on the black pavement.

"So," she started, "may I ask why you're all alone out here?"

"I'm not real sure to be honest." He said, "I don't know where my family is."

"Oh," now she wished she had never even opened her mouth to breathe, "I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

"No, it's fine. I know I'll find them."

She was quiet a moment, contemplating what he had said, "How do you know?"

"I just do. I feel it in my gut."

"So, you're just running off instinct right now?"

"Well, in a way, I suppose. I woke up yesterday in an empty hospital, no idea the date, the time, what had happened to me or the entire town for that matter. When I went to my house, my family was gone, but so were the clothes and pictures. I know they're alive, and I know they're out there. I just have to find them."

Rose stayed silent after that, looking down at the ground as it passed them by. Rick took them down a large off ramp that put them on the interstate towards the city. Towards Atlanta. But it wasn't anything either of them had expected. Rick brought the horse to a stop and observed the area around them. They were on the road heading into the city and it was void of cars in front of them as well as behind. But on the other side of the median were hundreds of cars bumper to bumper, piled on top of one another trying to get out of the city, but not a soul in sight. All of the vehicles looked like they had not even been touched for months. Rose looked away to the other side but she was met with the same devastation to her right. A long train, passenger or cargo she couldn't tell, but one thing was for sure, it was knocked clean off its tracks.

"Let's go." Rick mumbled.

Happy to be getting going again, but unsure of their plan to find safety in Atlanta was valid anymore, Rose dug her face into Rick's back, trying to find her happy place. It was much harder than she thought. But without all of the traffic one would usually see during this time of day it didn't take them long to get into the city. But to their dismay, it was completely deserted.

"There's nobody here." Rose said, looking around.

"That we can see." Rick looked both ways before deciding on a right turn, "Come on, let's look some more."

They kept on their path, looking down every street and every alley for any signs of life, living or dead. There were cars and trucks scattered all over the road as if Godzilla had decided to take a midday swim over to America, toss some vehicles around and return to Japan. Rose took a moment to herself to smile at her small joke when they passed a city bus. There were a few people in it and they walked right past it, but Rose turned her head and continued to watch. Her eyes grew wide and she sucked in a breath when they started to move, making their way off the bus.

"Rick," she whispered, "those are walkers."

One of them stepped off the bus and spooked the horse. Rose gripped tight to Rick's waist as he spoke, "There's just a few. Nothing we can't outrun."

They kept going down the path of death, decay and debris, Rose looking behind them every five seconds to make sure they didn't get any closer. She steadied her breathing when they didn't seem to be walking very fast and turned back to the front. But what was caught in her line of sight made her suck in another breath. One of the army's tanks lay dormant in the middle of the intersection, the body of one of the nation's soldiers lay limp and dead, tossed on top of it like a rag doll. They cringed at the sight of vultures picking at its flesh. Rick was about to steer around it but he stopped in his tracks. Rose looked up at him and back behind them where a few walkers were gaining on them.

"Rick, what're you doing?" she said, "Those walkers are getting a little too close for comfort if you ask me."

"Wait." He said, staring up at the sky, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Helicopter."

They were quiet a moment. Listening to the sounds of the dead's' moans and soon enough she heard it, too. She looked to the skyscrapers and saw it: a green military helicopter flying overhead. She pointed it out and they took off in a fast trot, Rose keeping her eye on it the whole time. But she regretted it when they turned the corner onto the next street. She almost screamed at the hundreds and hundreds of walkers gathered in the street. They stopped in their tracks and the horse cried in protest. Rose's breathing became heavy with fear and they made a break for the opposite direction, back the way they came, but the zombies had taken over that street just as they had the other.

"Shit." Rick muttered, looking for a way out.

"Rick, what do we do?" Rose didn't even try to be quiet. It was no use, they'd seen them. But they dead didn't even give Rick the chance to answer and she screamed as the horse was dragged out from under her. She hit the pavement and Rick lost sight of her.

"Rose!" he searched frantically for her, but she was out of sight. His eyes darted around, trying to find any sense of reassurance with no luck. He could not find Rose anywhere. But his eyes landed on his bag of guns and he was not sure if he should have been happy that he had found weapons, or scared because the bag, and a very familiar navy backpack for that matter was not around Rose's waist. He stretched out his arm, reaching for both bags but the walkers were closing in fast and there was no way he was going to be able to retrieve them. Not now at least. The zombies were closing in at an alarming rate and he retreated under the tank, fear apparent in his short shallow breaths. He pulled the small pistol from is holster and shot the ones closest to him, as many as he could as fast as he could. He was beginning to get overwhelmed, they were coming in on both sides and there were so many of them. His breath still just as shallow, he rolled onto his back with the pistol to his head, muttering his apologies to his wife, Lori and his son, Carl. He was about to pull the trigger when he felt the tug of an angel on his shirt sleeve. He opened his eyes and saw Rose trying to pull him inside the tank from underneath.

"Rick, come on!" she was pulling as hard as she could and as soon as he realized what was happening he jumped up and hoisted himself into the tank, shutting the latch behind him. Each of them scrambled to the walls of the inside on the army vehicle, their breaths heavy. They were silent for quite a while, trying to catch their breath.

"Are you…okay?" Rick asked in between breathing.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her whole body was shaking immensely so he didn't much believe her, "You?"

"Fine." He looked around until he spotted a body of an army man leaning against the opposite wall and almost jumped out of his skin. He looked to Rose who had her eyes closed trying to take slow easy breaths to calm herself down. He crawled across the tank and reached for the gun in the soldier's gear.

"What are you doing?" Rose's eyes were wide with panic.

"Checking for ammo." He didn't look at her but pulled the weapon from its holster and sat next to the body, examining the gun. When he wasn't paying attention the soldier came to life right before Rose's eyes and looked right at him.

"Rick!" she screamed, reaching for him. He looked up and wasted no time in putting a bullet in its head but he immediately regretted it. A high pitched ringing sounded in their ears and the pain was almost unbearable, making them dizzy and disoriented. Rose felt like she was going to throw up, and she could have sworn she blacked out for a considerable minute. But when she woke Rick was half outside the top of the tank looking around as if there weren't mindless zombies out there just waiting to get ahold of his very much alive and not decaying flesh. She could feel herself begging him to come back inside, but he had to know what was happening outside. However what he saw, he never expected to see. Walkers were everywhere. Most of them were going after the horse, but none-the-less, they were everywhere. He could just see where his bag of guns lay bloodied but untouched not too far from the tank, Rose's backpack a few feet from his pack, but he couldn't get to either of them.

"Rick!" Rose finally pulled him back down and yanked the lid shut behind him. The ringing seemed to have stopped and she seemed to be calmed down enough to come back to her senses, "Do you want to get bit, or something?"

"The guns, your bag, they're right outside." He said.

"I know; I'm sorry I dropped the bags. The walkers grabbed a hold of them and I was scared. I didn't know what-!"

"No, no, it's okay. You're not hurt?"

She shook her head,

"Then that's all that matters." He put a hand on her shoulder and she smiled. He looked around and picked up the gun he got off the soldier.

"Now what do we do?" Rose asked, leaning back on the wall. They were silent, listening to the walkers pound on the tank from the outside. Rose's question kept repeating itself in Rick's head. What _were _they going to do? He sat back, leaning his head on the gun in his hand.

"I don't know, Rose." He finally said, "I don't know."

Rose crawled towards him and sat right in front of him, perched on her knees. A half smile played on her lips, "Don't worry. Something'll happen."

Rick just looked up at her, unsure really of what she meant, but it seemed to make her feel better, so he simply smiled. That was when the radio when off. It started crackling and static came in through the CB. They exchanged glanced but stayed glued to their spot. Could this really be happening? Then someone spoke and it was as if they both stopped breathing.

"_Hey, you." _It said. It sounded like a young man, but all they could do was stare. This had to be a joke. Could this man really rescue them?

"_Dumbass."_ The voice spoke again, _"Yeah, you in the tank. Are you cozy in there?"_


	3. Rescue and Escape

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.**

**Enjoy!**

All they could do was stare. This man, seemingly out of nowhere (and to them, out of sight) was coming to their rescue. They couldn't believe it, this was really happening. But all Rose could think was, _How in the hell was he going to get them out of there? _But another thought hit her, what if he wasn't there to help them at all? What if he just wanted to tease them, or torture them? Treat them like the tapped mice that they felt like. A sudden hatred boiled up inside her and she felt like she needed to scream. _Calm down, _she told herself, _you don't know what he wants. He may want to help you._

"Hey, are you alive in there?" the voice came again. Rick and Rose looked to each other and scrambled towards the radio, Rick getting to it before Rose did.

"Hello? Hello?" he said frantically.

The man on the outside let out a relieved breath, _"There you are. You had me wondering."_

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" Rick seemed to be in a panic, but Rose didn't blame him one bit. Considering the situation they were in, he seemed rather calm by comparison. She listened intently, her hands holding onto her knee so tight they were white with worry. She still couldn't decide if they should trust this Radio Man.

"_Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news."_

"There's good news?"

There was a slight pause, _"No."_

Rick rolled his eyes and Rose fell back with her hand over her face. Radio Man may be trying to help them, she decided, but as far as she knew he did not have a clue as to how he was going to do it. The hope she had just a few moments ago was starting to vanish. Rick put a hand on her knee, speaking into the talkie, "Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you we're a little concerned in here."

"_Oh man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out."_

Rick looked at Rose, "Got any advice?"

"_Yeah, I'd say make a run for it."_

"What?" Rose was in shock, he could not possibly be serious, "Is he crazy?"

"Make a run for it?" said Rick.

"_My way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?"_

"So far."

"_Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. You got ammo?"_

"In that duffle bag out there, and guns. Can I get to it?"

"_Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?"_

"Hang on." He dropped the talkie and grabbed for the gun, checking how many more bullets he had left.

"Look for anything we can use." He told Rose. She looked around for a second and reluctantly crawled over to the dead walker. She padded him down but couldn't find anything, though it was probably because she really didn't even want to be near the thing, let alone touch it. She sighed and began to look elsewhere when something caught her eye. She turned back around and stared at it a minute, determining if she should even pick it up. In the end, she grabbed hold of it and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Did you find anything?" Rick called.

She hesitated, "No."

"I got a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds." He said into the talkie.

"_Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there." _Radio Man instructed.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"_Have you been listening? You're running out of time."_

Rick dropped the talkie and turned to Rose. She was shaking again, but she looked ready. Scared shitless, but ready. Ready to be out of this tank and ready to be out of this situation. They both were. He grabbed an axe that was lying on the floor nearby and handed it to her, putting his hands on her shoulders, breathing with her.

"The only way this is gonna work," he told her, "is if you do exactly as I do, you hear me?"

She only nodded.

"Okay, now, follow me and if they get too close, whack 'em in the head with this." He gestured to the axe in her tiny hands and she nodded again, breathing through her nose, jaws clenched. Rick stood and readied his gun, taking a deep breath. He looked back at Rose, her hands clamped on her weapon, and she gave him the okay. He took one more moment before opening the latch and standing up straight, killing the walker that Radio Man had told them was there on the tank and helping Rose out. They both jumped down off the vehicle and hit the pavement, hard. Rick stood quickly and immediately started shooting as many walkers as possible, Rose on his heels. They made their way through the street, keeping a relatively fast pace, Rick killing any walker on sight that even remotely looked at them. They made it to the alley and turned, Rick ready to shoot, but stopped when they ran into who must have been Radio Man.

"Whoa! Not dead!" he confirmed, "Follow me!"

Rick let Rose pass in front of him and she took off down the alley after their savior, but Rick was still just as trigger happy, blasting the walkers behind them that were following in tow. Radio Man led them to a ladder and he started up it, Rose right behind him the whole way keeping forward and not looking back. Rick was still shooting when he ran out of bullets.

"What are you doing?" the boy called down, "Come on!"

Rick made it up the ladder out of reach just in time and they all clambered onto the first level, Radio Man helping Rose onto the platform when she got there, then Rick behind her. Rose collapsed against the brick wall out of breath, eyes closed, and the boys were clinging to the rail for dear life, all of them trying to fill their lungs with much needed air.

Radio Man looked at Rick, "Nice moves there Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?"

"It wasn't my intention." He breathed in reply.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass."

Rose chuckled with a smile, eyes still closed.

"Rick." He held out his hand, "Thanks."

"Glenn. You're welcome." He shook it.

"And this is Rose." Rick gestured to her figure still on the floor of the platform. Glenn looked at her and she gave him a weak two finger salute with a small smile.

"Hi, there." She said.

"Hi." He smiled back. There was a moment where neither of them looked away and Rose could feel the blood rush to her cheeks. The boy, Glenn smiled even bigger, looking down and back at her again. Rick brought them out of their stupor.

"Oh, no." he was peering over the rail down at the walkers who were beginning to figure out how to climb the ladder. This seemed to remind Glenn and Rose what they were doing. Glenn took a few steps and stood looking up at the rungs that led all the way up to the roof while Rick helped Rose to her feet. She looked up towards the roof then back down towards the walkers, trying to decide which was worse. It was a much harder decision than she thought. Glenn put his hands and foot onto the ladder looking up.

"The bright side:" he said, "it'll be the fall that kills us."

"Lovely." Said Rose, staring down at the vastly approaching walkers.

"I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy."

Rose smiled and followed him up to the roof where it was safe to walk at their own pace. She fell behind a little, stopping to look down at the alleyway on the crossway between buildings.

"Are you the one who barricaded the alley?" asked Rick.

"Somebody did—I guess when the city got overrun." Glenn replied, quickening his steps so Rose had to catch up to both boys. "Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through."

They were moving at almost a running pace now and Rose couldn't help but wonder where Glenn was taking them. She trusted him for sure, he saved their lives and they owed him everything, but that did not mean it did not make her nervous. She took a look at her surroundings, her long hair flying everywhere, but there wasn't much to look at. It looked like a roof. That's when she questioned if Glenn knew where he was going; it looked like any other roof, so how did he know which roof they were on? She told herself she was being silly and that he'd obviously done this more than once, climbing all over buildings and such and it was probably tremendously easy. Her nerves were taking a toll on her, and she did not like it. Not one bit. If something happened to anybody because of her lack of nerves, she would never forgive herself. That was the last thing she needed, was guilt to add to the pile of already growing emotions. Glenn stopped and opened a trap door that led inside the building they were currently on and started stripping off his backpack. He seemed nervous and in a hurry.

"Back at the tank," said Rick, "why'd you stick your neck out for us?"

"Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I'm ever that far up Shit Creek, somebody might do the same for me." He threw his pack down the shaft and climbed in after it, "Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you."

Rick and Rose looked at each other as he started down the ladder and Rose was not too far behind. Rick took one last look around before clambering in after her, closing the latch and enclosing them in darkness. When they reached the bottom they were in an almost empty room, completely white, and it was pretty much trashed. There was an exit that led them to another stair well on the other side of the building and Glenn pulled a walkie talkie from his back pocket.

"I'm back. Got two guests plus four geeks in the alley." He said. They stopped at the end of the stairs where the walkers were wandering aimlessly about the place, their moans echoing off the walls of the confined area. Rose sucked in a breath and Rick pushed her behind him, all three of them stopping for the moment. They waited only a moment or two before two persons slammed open a door on the other side of the alley, causing Rose to almost jump out of her skin, and took a couple of bats to the walkers' heads. Rose watched in horror as they took them down and Rick had to almost drag her over towards the door. Glenn held the door open for the two of them and the persons in black ran after them, slamming the door closed when everyone was in. But as soon as they were out of danger, it seemed as though they were thrown right back in it. A bland woman slammed Rick up against a table, gun pointed right at his face.

"Please, no!" Rose took a step toward them but someone held her back, a large black man in a white shirt, Brooklyn written across the front.

"Son of a bitch." The blonde woman snarled, "We ought to kill you."

Several of the people around them we trying to convince her to calm down and Rose was begging every which way she knew for her to not kill him.

"Please, don't kill him." She begged, tears in her eyes. The woman looked at her but didn't remove the gun or her hand.

"You're kidding, right?" she said, "We're dead because of this stupid asshole."

"Andrea," one of the men, Morales, stood beside her, "I said back the hell off."

She stood there a moment, gun pointed straight at his forehead. She could hear Rose's whispered pleas in her ear.

"Or pull the trigger." Morales warned and she stood down. Rose released the breath she was holding and the black man let her go. She looked at him only a moment, receiving a look of apology and sympathy before she ran to Rick's side.

"We're dead—all of us—because of you." Andrea accused.

Rick put an arm around Rose's shoulder and looked at all of the people in the room, "I don't understand.

"Look," Morales drug him away; leaving Rose to catch up and Glenn took a couple of strides to walk beside her. She glanced over at him but didn't give it much thought and continued walking. They followed the group down a few halls till they came out in the main shopping area of what was clearly a department store.

"We came into the city to scavenge supplies." Morales was telling Rick, "You know what the key to scavenging is? Survival! You know what the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral."

When they finally made it to the front of the store Rose looked up and sucked in a breath, looking right at the two sets of glass doors that were holding the what was no doubt a hundred or so walkers out in the street. They were banging on the doors, trying their hardest to get inside, and at the rate the door was cracking, it would not take them long to get in.

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds."

Andrea just stared at the sight before her, "You just rang the dinner bell."


	4. Temper, temper

**Meh, nothing to report.**

** Enjoy!**

"There are so many of them." Rose breathed. She couldn't believe it. How could there possibly be that many dead in the city? All she could do was stare. Stare and try to breathe. She felt a little weak in the knees but refused to faint. She sucked in another breath when one of the walkers found something large and destructive to bang against the glass. Cracks were starting to form and Andrea cursed under her breath, pulling Rose into the shadows with everyone else. All of them couldn't take their eyes off the sight, unsure of what to do, think or say. Finally, a thought hit Andrea.

"What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" she said.

"Trying to flag the helicopter." Rick replied.

"Helicopter?" the black man that held Rose back earlier spoke up, "Man, that's crap. There ain't no damn helicopter."

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens." a petite black woman with beautiful bone structure tried to explain. Her voice sounded a little shaken to Rose's ears. Rose could feel her temper rise in the back of her throat and she had to bite her tongue till she thought she was going to break skin to keep from saying anything.

"I saw it." Rick growled.

There was a moment of silence and Rose could tell they didn't believe him. She knew they had good reason to but it still made her angry. She turned her torso away from the doors she was staring at but kept her feet planted, glaring at every single one of them. Why did this make her so upset? She could think of a couple reasons: the helicopter gave her hope and they were shooting it down like a hunter shoots his prey, they were trying to confide in these people and they didn't trust them, but of course, again, who could blame them? This was the middle of the apocalypse. It was hard to trust anyone anymore. None the less, her voice sounded hard and icy when she spoke.

"If that was a hallucination then how did we both see it?" She paused, "I saw it, too."

Nobody said a word and Rose turned back to the walkers trying to get in the glass doors. She felt better after saying what she did, but she still regretted it. The air was tense, awkward. She almost wanted to cry but she choked them back. She stood there, unmoving; she would not be the first to speak, not after that. Morales finally took a small step towards the black man and sliced the silence like a sharp knife would slice butter.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that CB." He said, "Can you contact the others?"

Rose thought about turning around to join the conversation but kept her mouth shut. All of the sudden she didn't feel welcome. She felt like shit when Rick stepped up behind her, "The refugee center?"

"Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us." Sarcasm was heavy in the black woman's voice. It made Rose want to punch her in the face. Why did she feel so bitter to these people who were trying to take them in?

"Got no signal." The black man, T-Dog piped in, "Maybe the roof."

Rose about jumped out of her skin when a gun shot fired and she looked around expecting on of the group to be on the ground in a pool of blood, but the shot was too far away to be one of them. She looked at everyone's faces and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Was that Dixon?" Andrea took off, the others in two behind her. Rick wasn't far behind but he stopped when Rose didn't follow, standing completely still. She wasn't looking at them; she was actually looking at the ground.

"Rose, come on." Rick urged her toward him, looking back towards the way the group fled. Glenn had stopped, waiting on them to follow, but Rose didn't look at them. Her stomach felt like she had swallowed a thousand tons of guilt and could not shake it. She fidgeted and Rick continued to encourage her to go with him. She took a deep, shaky breath, about to tell him to go on, to leave her, but when she looked up Glenn was still waiting on them. He looked at her with what Rose could see was either apologetic or sympathetic eyes, she couldn't tell. But something about the fact that he stayed to make sure Rick and herself kept up with the group triggered something with her. She didn't know what, but she took one step forward and Rick urged once more that they needed to hurry and she took off in a sprint, falling in step next to Rick, behind Glenn who led them up a shaft of metal stairs. They caught up just as Morales reached the roof.

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?" he said as everyone piled out into the hot sun.

The man, Dixon, fired another shot down at the street, laughing. It sent a shiver down Rose's spine and she immediately knew she wasn't going to like this guy. He turned to face them with a maniacal smile planted on his face and Rose glared at him. Yep, she was not going to like him one bit.

"You ought to be more polite to a man with a gun!" Dixon jumped off the ledge and took a few staggered steps toward them, "Only common sense."

"Man, you wastin' bullets we ain't even got, man!" T-Dog approached him, "And you're bringing even more of them down here on our ass! Man, just chill."

"Hey, it's bad enough I got this taco-bender on my ass all day." He gestured to Morales, "Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."

Rose suddenly had a bad feeling and grabbed hold of the sleeve of Rick's shirt, watching the scene unfold in front of them. T-Dog and Dixon were right in each other's faces and their voices got louder the more they spoke. She looked around and found everyone staring unblinking at the men. It made her wonder if this was a regular occurrence or not.

"'That'll be the day'?" said T-Dog, "You got somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it." Morales' said in a meager attempt to stop the fight. He didn't sound very heartfelt about it, though. But after T-Dog ignored him, he seemed to understand he was going to have to try a bit harder, "All right? It ain't worth it. Now, Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble."

Again, his attempt didn't sound like it was doing anything to stop what was about to happen. Rose wanted to step in, say something, but she kept her mouth shut. She felt like she had already overstepped her boundaries and instead pulled on Rick's sleeve, "Rick, we-you've got to do something."

"No," Glenn shook his head, "just leave it."

Rose looked at him, clearly confused and she backed off. But she didn't like it. The argument continued and nobody did a thing to stop it.

"You want to know the day?" Merle continued.

"Yeah." T-Dog stepped towards him.

"I'll tell you the day, Mr. 'Yo.' It's the day I take orders from a nigger."

Something cracked in Rose and she was done. They were in the middle of a Goddamn zombie apocalypse, trying their best to simply survive day to day and he wanted to bring race into this? He could not possibly be serious.

"Oh, hell no." Rose let go of Rick's shirt sleeve and stepped toward the fight, uncaring of the size difference and the fact that he had a loaded gun in his hand, she would take him down herself if nobody else would. She was ready to take a punch but Rick held her back and stepped in front of her.

"Hey, come on, Merle, that's enough." He tried to step in, but Merle struck him right in the nose and he was down for the count. Rose was on her knees beside him in seconds, looking to make sure his nose wasn't broken or anything too serious. He seemed a little dazed, but otherwise fine, but she was not. The same anger boiled up inside of her again and she ran over towards him as soon as Merle started laying punches all over T-Dog's face. She threw her body across his as a shield and Merle struck her shoulder and cheek bone before he realized what had happened. He stopped and she looked up at him with daggers. She was shaking both from the pain and the fact that she had never done anything like this before and she was sure she would probably never do this again, whether it be because Merle shoots her or because it was the most terrifying thing in the world to her. But she simply did not like Merle Dixon and already felt that T-Dog was an extremely nice person and nothing like this should happen to him let alone anyone else. They should be fighting the dead, not each other. Merle smiled down at her and her face faltered.

"Well, who do we have here? Little Miss Ginger?" he cupped her chin and lifted her up that way, "Freckles?"

He pointed the gun at T-Dog with his free hand Andrea started to beg for mercy for the both of them. Nobody said a word, scared to move in case Merle did something completely unmoral. The only noise was the sound of everyone's heavy breathing and T-Dog's terrified grunts of pain. Rose whimpered, terror in her hazel eyes, black and blue bruises forming on her cheekbone already.

"All right!" Merle finally said, letting T-Dog up off the cement. He gave Rose's cheek a squeeze and she was tossed to the ground, Merle standing over her, "We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else?"

Andrea and the black woman helped T-Dog sit up a bit and Rose leaned on her elbows, glaring a Merle. Glenn came to her aid, kneeling next to her, both of them unsure of what to do.

"Democracy time, y'all." Merle continued, "Show of hands. All in favor?"

A few raised their hands: Morales, Andrea, the black woman and eventually Glenn and Rose. They did not want to, but what other choice did they have? He had a very large gun in his hand and threw a very persuasive punch. Glenn's hand rested on Rose's elbow and she was almost leaning on him for support. Her mind was racing, what were they going to do? If Merle was supposedly "in charge" he was going to get them killed. He was already getting cocky with the fact that he had them pinned in a corner with no way out. That was exactly what they needed, for him to get a big head. He held his gun in the air, looking all of them in the face, "That means I'm the boss, right? Anybody else? Anybody?"

"Yeah." Rick took the butt end of a riffle to Merle's face and Rose's eyes lit up. She had almost forgotten Rick was over there. She watched him handcuff Dixon to the water pipe they were all gathered next to, hands gripped to the collar of his shirt.

"Who the hell are you, man?" Merle demanded.

"Officer friendly." Rick grabbed the gun Dixon had and emptied it of its bullets into his hand, "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

He put the bullets back in their chamber and Merle simply looked at him and said through gritted teeth, "Screw you, man."

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well screw you twice."

"Ought to be more polite to a man with a gun." He held the weapon to his temple, "Only common sense."

Everyone was silent.

"You wouldn't." Merle finally said, "You're a cop."

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody gets in the way of that's gonna lose." He paused, "I'll give you a moment to think about that."

He turned to where Rose and Glenn were sitting perfectly still, staring at him with wide eyes in a way that a small child would look at his idol. Glenn was still supporting her weight and a very dark bruise was already completely visible on her pale skin. She blinked a few times.

"Are you all right?" Rick asked her. She nodded and he headed for the opposite end of the roof overlooking the city. Something was obviously bothering him but Rose could not place it. Morales followed the officer, leaving the rest of the group to collect themselves after what just happened. Glenn looked down at Rose. She was staring after Rick with a kind of dazed expression.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he said, "That was a nasty hit."

She looked up at him as if she finally noticed was had happened to her, "Yeah, I'll be all right."

She started to stand and Glenn supported most of her weight. She smiled and thanked him, still holding onto his shoulder, his hand lightly resting on her waist.

"Not a problem." He said, "Any time."

"I'll hold you to that." She winked and went to check on T-Dog, leaving Glenn with a goofy smile on his face. Merle watched with a little bit more interest than he should and gave a slight chuckle. Glenn turned to him.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I think someone has a crush on Freckles." He teased with an arrogant smile.

Glenn rolled his eyes, "No, I don't actually. You know it's possible to have a really good friend of the opposite gender?"

"Whatever."

Glenn rolled his eyes again and joined the rest of the group standing by the wall, looking down into the street. He peered over the edge and made a face. There were a lot of walkers down there. They'd need one hell of a plan to get them out of this one.

"How's that signal?" Morales asked when he and Rick returned.

"Like Dixon's brain—weak." T-Dog replied, leaning up against the wall with his legs stretched out. Rose giggled beside him and he smiled at her. They looked towards Merle who simply flipped them the bird. Rose held up her petite middle finger.

"Right back at you, bro." she said.

"Keep trying." Morales pushed, looking at all the walkers with worried eyes. Rose didn't blame him, she was terrified.

"Why?" said Andrea next to him, "There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing."

"Got some people outside the city is all." Morales explained to Rick and Rose, "There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream."

Rose looked down at the concrete under her legs. This piece of knowledge hit her a little harder than she expected. Deep down, she knew it was true. After seeing what happened to the city, there was no way a refugee center. But the helicopter they saw gave her hope, at least some. Just hearing the truth outright really upset her and she pressed her lips together, trying to keep calm. Now was not the time to break down.

"Then she's right. We're on our own." Said Rick, bringing her out of her thoughts, "Up to us to find a way out."

"Good luck with that." Said Merle, "These streets ain't safe from what I hear."

"'The streets ain't safe.'" Morales scoffed, "Now there's an understatement."

"What about under the streets?" said Rick, "The sewers?"

"Oh man. Hey, Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"

The boy jogged across the roof and peered over the edge, "No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are."

"Maybe not." Said the black woman, "Old building like this built in the '20s—big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements."

"How do you know that?"

"It's my job—was. I worked in the city zoning office."


	5. Trapped

They left Merle handcuffed up on the roof and followed Glenn down to the basement of the building with flashlights. There was a railing around a hole that led deeper into the earth and they gathered around it, peering down into the tunnel. It was dark and murky but it was obviously made for humans by the looks of the metal ladder that led into it. Nobody said a word for a few minutes, all of them thinking of what might be down there. It could be something dangerous and life-threatening or it could be a way out. Andrea fidgeted beside Rose and she looked up at her with a half-hearted encouraging smile.

"This is it?" Morales finally spoke, "Are you sure?"

"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here." Said Glenn, "It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it."

"Who'd want to, right?" Rose's voice echoed a bit where she leaned over the railing a little too far. Rick grabbed hold of the back of her shirt and pulled her back up. But when she lifted her head everyone was staring at Glenn. She looked at them and it suddenly hit her. Glenn seemed to get the message as well.

"Oh. Great." Glenn made a face at the tunnel.

Rose gave him a sympathetic smile, "We'll be right behind you."

"No, you won't. Not you." He looked right at Rose but looked away when he saw how taken aback she was. She was almost a little bit hurt by it, but didn't say anything. He looked at her again, trying to find words, but they just wouldn't come. Rick finally came to his rescue.

"Speak your mind." He encouraged.

Glenn locked eyes with Rose for a moment, almost as if he was trying to mull something over in his mind before he spoke to everyone.

"Look, until now I always came here by myself—in and out, grab a few things—no problem. The first time I bring a group—everything goes to hell. No offense." He paused, "If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine—but only if we do it my way. It's tight down there. If I run into something and half to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me and get me killed. I'll take one person—not you either." He told Rick when he was about to offer, "You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors covering our ass."

Glenn when on to tell everyone how he wanted things to be done. Rose patiently waited in silence but he seemed to skip over her. She felt that pang of hurt for only a second. She was young and she didn't know how to work a weapon. She probably wouldn't be any use to anybody so she stayed quiet, doing what she was told. When Glenn finished he took a deep breath, like he was scared he'd done something wrong, or offended someone. Rick clapped his shoulder, "Everyone knows their job."

Rose watched the two and Glenn looked right at Rose as he held the flashlight in between his teeth and started the decent into the tunnel. He almost looked apologetic. She put her hands on the rail and watched him find the bottom and aim the light towards the direction he was walking and disappear.

"Come on, you're with me." Rick put a hand on her back and she followed him and Andrea back to the front of the store. The walkers were still trying to break in and they were making a little progress, but not much. Just enough to make Rose nervous. None of them said anything and Rose walked over to look at the jewelry to be by herself. She needed some time to think about what had happened to her since she woke up from that barn this morning. All the people she had met when she thought she'd never see a living person again, how far she'd gotten, what she'd learned about the refugee center that she'd spent so much time trying to get to. So much had changed. She sighed. Rick and Andrea's voices told her that they'd started some kind of conversation but she wasn't paying any attention to it. She examined the jewelry that was on display with mild interest, trying to decipher her feelings on everyone and everything. She was worried about everyone, though she'd only just met them a few hours ago. But that was normal for her. Her mother always said she trusted people too easily and one day that was going to get her in a lot of trouble. A faint smile played on her lips at the memory of her mother. She tried to shake it, not wanted to get upset in front of Andrea and Rick. Now was not the time for that. She circled around the display till she was standing next to Andrea who was examining the jewelry as well. Something caught her eye and she held it gently in between her fingers. Rose looked when she saw her smile. It was the first time she'd seen a positive emotion from her and it gave her a bit of hope. She looked to see what she was examining, a mermaid charm on a thin silver chain. Rose smiled.

"It's pretty." She said.

Andrea looked at her and returned the smile, "Yeah, it is."

Rick looked back and walked towards the girls, peeking over their shoulders, "See something you like?"

"Not me, but I know someone who would." Andrea raised her head with a soft look, "My sister."

Rose looked up with a hint of emotion in her eyes, "You had a sister?"

"Yeah, still do. Back at camp." She turned back to the necklace, "She's still such a kid in some ways. Unicorns, dragons—she's into all that stuff. But mermaids—they rule. She loves mermaids."

"Why not take it?" said Rick.

"There's a cop staring at me." She said it as if it was the stupidest question in the world. Rick chuckled.

"Would it be considered looting?" she asked.

"I don't think those rules apply anymore. Do you?"

Andrea simply smiled and took the necklace, sticking it in her back pocket. Rick continued to pace the store and Andrea looked down at Rose who had gotten suddenly quiet. She watched her a moment, just watching. She wondered how her and Rick ended up together on this journey to the big city. They looked nothing alike so they couldn't be related. She pondered the different scenarios but didn't ask. She felt bad for her, being so young and having to deal with the world ending. She was probably in her first year of college dealing with all of the stress that comes with being a student when all her dreams and goals were ripped from her grasp. Andrea moved a piece of red hair away from her face before she spoke.

""What about you? You have any siblings?"

Rose gave a small crooked smile but didn't look at her, "Yeah, I did. I had a twin sister."

She looked up at the blond glossy eyes and Andrea stroked her arm, knowing there was nothing she could say that would change what had happened to her. She didn't know if she been killed, or turned into a walker, but either way it was not going to bring Rose's sister back. She brought her into a hug and Rose's thin, freckled arms wrapped around her waist. They were there only a moment when the first set of doors shattered, letting the swarm of walkers slam into the next set. Rick pulled his gun to a shooting position and Morales, Glenn and the black woman whos name Rose learned was Jaqui ran back into the room.

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked.

"Not a way out." Said Morales.

"We need to find a way." Andrea said.

"Soon." Rose looked as terrified as she sounded and had no shame in it. Those doors wouldn't hold forever and they were still trapped. If they didn't find a way out of the building soon they were done for. They all ran back up to the roof and Rick grabbed hold of the binoculars. They were silent only a moment before he found something.

"That construction site," he said, "those trucks—they always keep keys on hand."

Morales took the binoculars and peered through them towards the trucks Rick mentioned, then down at the street. There seemed to be more geeks than before if that was possible, "You'll never get past the walkers."

Rick turned to Glenn, "You got Rose and me outta that tank."

"Yeah, but they were feeding." He replied, "They were distracted."

"Could we distract them again?" said Rose from T-Dog's side leaned against the wall.

"Right. Listen to Freckles. She's onto somethin'." Said Merle, still chained to the pipe, "A diversion, like on 'Hogan's Heroes."

"God. Give it a rest." Said Jaqui. You could tell she was as tired of hearing his voice as Rose was.

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick diverted the conversation back to trying to find a way out.

"Right, like dogs." Said Glenn, "They hear sound, they come."

"What else?

"Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you." Said Morales.

"Hey can tell us by smell?"

"Can't you?" Glenn said as if it was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Said Andrea.

Rick took a look around and sucked in a deep breath. They weren't going to be happy about this.


	6. Guts

**Hey! I'm sorry about the lack of A/N in the last chapter and lack of spellcheck, I'm sure they're a butt ton of mistakes…my bad! My mind was elsewhere.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.**

**Enjoy!**

"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn stared at the rubber gloves Rick had shoved into his hands. They were back down on the bottom floor basement where he had first brought Rick and Rose and Rick had come up with a plan to get them out. Glenn personally thought he was crazy, and it was easy to see that he was not alone in this assumption.

"How much time?" Rick argued, pulling some long coats from a rack, "They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold forever."

Nobody said a word as they slipped on the gloves and coats and gloves. When they were ready Rick and Morales ran out to grab one of the walkers they had taken down earlier. They drug him inside and Glenn closed the door behind them once they were in. They stood around the body and Rick took a cane to the glass that held the emergency axe, grabbing it and taking a few moments to prepare himself for what he was about to do. It was a lot harder than he thought it would be. Glenn and Rose shrunk back, looking away when he raised the weapon, closing their eyes, but nothing came. When they opened them again Rick was on the floor patting down the body. It took all Rose had to watch him as he pulled wallet from the walker's pants pocket.

"Wayne Dunlap." He said, "Georgia license. Born in 1979." He handed the card to Rose standing beside him, "He had $28 in his pocket when he died, and a picture of a pretty girl." He took out the photo and turned it over, "'With love, from Rachel.'" He read, "He used to be like us—worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne." He stood up and took hold of the face protection mask and axe again when Glenn spoke.

"One more thing." He was looking over Rose's shoulder.

"He was an organ donor." She said.

Andrea gave her a soft look and they were quiet for a minute. Whether it was in respect for Wayne Dunlap or just to mentally prepare themselves for what they were doing, Rose wasn't sure. But one thing she was sure of, she didn't think she was going to be able to go through with it. But it was too late to back out now. The axe slammed down on Wayne's rib cage and she looked away immideately. Cries of protest were spoken from everyone but Rick continued. Rose tried to cover her ears but it was no use. There was no getting rid of the smell of dead, rotting flesh that filled her nostrils, making her sick to her stomach. She groaned and Glenn put his arms around her, looking away from the scene. After a minute or two Rick handed the mask and axe to Morales, telling him to keep chopping.

"I am so gonna hurl." Said Glenn, his arms still around Rose. She was holding onto his arm with her small hands and it was hard to tell if it was for her benefit or his. It could've been both for all she cared, all she knew was that she was greatful for it.

"Later." Rick waved him off, "Everybody got gloves? Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."

And with that they dug in, taking the guts and blood and flesh and rubbing it all over Glenn and Rick's jackets.

"Oh jeez." Glenn sucked in breaths to try and calm himself, "This is bad. This is really bad."

"Think about somethin' else—puppies and kittens." Rick suggested.

"Dead puppies and kittens." T-Dog muttered.

About that time Glenn turned away and vomited anything he had eaten within the past twelve hours. Rose patted his back, trying to assure him everything would turn out okay.

"That is just evil. What is wrong with you?" Andrea looked at T-Dog with a hint of disgust.

"Next time let the cracker beat his ass." Jaqui said in Rick's ear.

"I'm sorry, yo." T-Dog apologized.

"You suck!" Glenn muttered, still huntched over.

"Do we smell like them?" said Rick.

"Oh yeah." Andre gave him a look.

"Glenn." She walked over to where Rose was still trying to sooth Glenn's queasy stomach. He stood up straight when Andrea held out a gun to him, "Just in case." She gave him a half smile and slid it into his jeans.

"If we make it back, be ready." Said Rick.

"What about Merle Dixon?" said T-Dog.

Rick dug into his pocket and pulled out the tiny key to the handcuffs, tossing it to him, "Give me the axe. We need—we need more guts."

* * *

><p>When they were sure the walkers weren't going to be able to tell them from the living, Glenn and Rick stepped outside. They looked at each other and nodded, starting down the street with a fake limp. Morales closed the door behind them once they were off and led the rest of the group back up to the roof so they could keep an eye on them. When they slammed the door open from the stairwell Merle immediately bombared them with questions.<p>

"Hey, what's happening, man?" was all Rose could catch.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that CB." Morales hit the wall and peered over it into the streets below.

Merle continued to beg them to tell him what was going on but they ignored him, T-Dog's voice rang into the CB, "Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me? Can anybody out there hear me?"

"There." Morales finally found them through the binoculars and everyone directed their attention to where he was pointing. Thunder crashed and he and Rose looked to the sky. The clouds were dark, and it was making her nervous. She had been hearing it all day but thought nothing of it, think it wouldn't concern them or be a problem in any of their plans but now she wasn't so sure. She watched the two in the street anxiously, trying to ignore Merle's obnoxious voice but it wasn't doing her much good.

"That asshole isout on the street with the handcuff keys?" he was saying.

She turned to face him from the wall she was leaning over with an annoyed expression plastered on her freckled face, "You know, Rick's not as much of a douche bag as you make him out to be."

Merle furrowed his brow but his eyes widened in surprise when T-Dog held up the key he so desperately wanted. Rose rolled her eyes and continued to watch Glenn and Rick on the street below while T-Dog tried the CB again, "Hello, base camp! Can anybody out there hear me?" he waited a second, "Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?"

"_Hello? Hello? Reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat." _A man's voice came from the other end and excitement shot through Rose's limbs as she sat by T-Dog.

"Shane, is that you?" he said, "We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store. There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded."

There was static, then nothing.

"They're gone." Rose whispered, leaning back against the brick in disappointment and frustration. But just when she thought it couldn't get worse, it started to rain. She and T-Dog exchanged terrified looks and she scurried to stand by Morales again. Her eyes darted till she found Glenn and Rick. They were so close to the construction site, it was making her fidget.

"It's just a cloudburst." Morales reassured, "We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick."

Rose looked at him, skeptic, but hopefull. He returned to the binoculars and she looked to the street. They just had to make it. There was no way they couldn't, that just wouldn't happen to them. She could feel herself start to bite her lower lip when some of the walkers looked as if they were getting suspicious. They were starting to smell what they really were: alive. She started shifting her weight from hip to hip, they were going to make it, she just knew it. She could feel it. But all of the sudden Rick took an axe to one of their heads and Rose knew it was over. The two took off running and Rose's hands flew to her mouth in terror. Morales was edging them on as they jumped over the fence to get into the contruction site. Gun shots were fired before they jumped into one of the trucks, Glenn making it just before one of the walkers got to him. They drove off as the other walkers took down the fence. Morales, Rose, Andrea and Jaqui watched the truck the leave their sight.

"They're leaving us." Said Andrea. They started to panic and Rose tried to ignore them, watching for the van to come back. Leaving them was not something Rick would do, she just knew it. He had a plan and he was coming back. She had faith, but everyone around her were so loud she couldn't concentrate on anything. She was trying to listen for the CB or the truck or a yell, something to tell her what she needed to do or what Rick wanted her to do. Trust was going to be their only way out at this point and the group seemed to have lost sight of that in the midst of their fear. Rose could understand that, she had fears and worries, but one thing she had always grew up on and put most of her faith in was trust. That was how she had survived this long, and it was going to be how she survived now.

"Hey!" she whipped around and they were suddenly silent, "I know Rick, he's got a plan. Trust him."

It wasn't much, but a few minutes passed in nervous silence. When Rose finally started to think she might be wrong and they left them to die, Glenn's voice came on the CB.

"_Hey guys, listen."_ He said.

Everyone turned to Rose and she sighed a breath of relief with a small but proud smile, "Told you."

"_Those roll up doors at the front of the store facing the street—meet us there and be ready."_

The CB went dead and they wasted no time in grabbing their things and running for the door. Merle screamed and kicked and begged them to save him, yelling at the top of his lungs as T-Dog led Rose to the door. He continued his pleas and Rose continued to ignore him. Everyone else was already in the stairwell when T-Dog stopped and so did Rose when she suddenly didn't hear his steps behind her. She turned to him with wide eyes, afraid of being left behind. She looked to the door and Morales was standing there waiting for them.

"We've gotta go!" he said.

T-Dog took one more look at Merle and sighed, "Rose, go with Morales."

She hesitated, but when Morales called her name she went running without looking back. He but a hand in the small of her back and closed the door behind them. Andrea was screaming for them to hurry and they ran as fast as their legs would carry them. Down the stairs, through the front of the store past the walkers still trying to get in through the glass and into the storage garage.

"What about T-Dog?" Rose cried once they stopped, catching their breath.

Jaqui, Andrea and Morales seemed to ignore her as they took hold of the chain to open the door, breathing heavy. But something caught their attention and they stopped.

"What is that?" said Morales. The noise was getting louder and lounder as it approached the outside of the store.

"It sounds like some kind of alarm." Rose listened as closely as she could, but she broke he concentration when she heard T-Dog shout for them to wait for him. She ran to the opening where they came in and went wide eyed. The walkers had broken the glass on the second set of doors. T-Dog was yelling for them to hurry up and the walkers had got in. They were getting closer and closer the more they waited and all Rose could do was watch. A bang on the door told them to pull on the chain and they started throwing bags and supplies onto the truck. T-Dog stopped before he got on and looked around. Rose was still at the entryway.

"Rose come on!" he ran towards her and threw her over his shoulder, helping her into the truck when she finally came out of her stricken daze. They closed the door just in time and they took off through the streets of Atlanta. Everyone was quiet, breathing heavily and Rick looked back at the group to make sure everybody had gotten in. Morales sat in the passenger seat staring at the road and behind him Rose clinged to T-Dog's shirt with his arm around her. Tucked in the corner behind his own seat Andrea and Jaqui held onto one another like they were each others life support.

"I dropped the damn key." Said T-Dog. Rose looked up at him. Nobody said a word. None of them were really sure of what they were supposed to say, really. But something hit Rose and she felt the question rise in her throat before she even had a chance to think about it.

"Where's Glenn?"


	7. INSERT CLEVER TITLE HERE

**Wow, sorry this took so long. I've been working on getting it all written down so much that I forgot to type some of it. My bad…well, if there are any of you actually reading this (which thank you for the review, zha! :D), enjoy!(:**

**I don't own anything you recognize.**

"Best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind." Morales tried to comfort Rick as they drove down the deserted road, "Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back, except maybe Daryl."

"Daryl?" Rick looked at him.

"His brother."

It was quiet again after that. Everyone was exhausted and Rose had actually fallen asleep in the back corner of the truck. Andrea and Jacqui weren't too far from sleep themselves. After a few moments of silence the sound of a far off car alarm made Rose's eyes flutter open. She crawled open to look out Rick's window and saw Glenn drive by at an ungodly speed. He drove on pass them and down the road, out of sight.

"At least somebody's having a good day." Rose said with a smile as she crawled back to the corner, dozing off again. She was asleep the rest of the way back until T-Dog woke her when they arrived.

"Come meet everybody you two." She could faintly hear Morales in her fog of waking. She blinked and rubbed her eyes until they came into focus as everyone jumped out of the vehicle, the bright sunlight making her shrink back when they opened the back of the truck and went to meet everyone at the camp. Rose watched through the windshield as the two sisters were reunited. She smiled, but only for a bit and she soon sat back down against the wall of the truck. She pulled her knees to her chest, the memory of her sister overpowering her emotions and tears fell down her cheeks. She was silent, unknowing that Rick was still in the truck with her until he spoke.

"Are you gonna be alright?"

She jumped a little and suddenly felt guilty. He was probably thinking of his family and she wanted to comfort him, but she wasn't sure how well she would do in her state. She needed to man up, she kept telling herself. If she was going to stay at this camp she wanted to earn her keep and crying her eyes out when she first met them was not going to help. She looked from Rick to the persons gathered around, greeting the people who had gone off to gather supplies. At least she knew what happened to her family, Rick didn't even know if his wife and son were alive. She continued to try and think of something to make him feel better with no luck. She choked back the tears and she could feel her cheeks get hot. Rick finally put a hand on her shoulder and she shrunk back.

"I'm fine." She said, sounding angrier than she meant. She attempted to calm her voice, "Go. I'll be fine. I'll come out in a minute. I just…need some time."

Rick simply nodded in understanding and opened the door. Rose laid her head on her knees, turning to she could see him through the windshield. She was confused when he stopped a moment but sat up when she saw something she never expected. A woman and small boy ran at him, the boy getting to him first and he picked him up, holding him so tight she thought he'd break him. All three of them embraced and it hit Rose like a hammer in the head.

Rick had found his family.

Her heart and mind suddenly felt like the glass doors at the department store, with the walkers banging on it as hard as their dead hands could possibly manage. Small cracks snaking their way through her life; or at least, what was left of it. She took deep breaths through her nose and let them out through her mouth. She would stay strong, she felt she could. But she knew it was going to be hard. She had nothing to live for. This wasn't like those movies she and her sister watched during their summers, there was no promise from a loved one, no promised land she'd heard of, no special place that she could go to hide from it all. She didn't even get to say goodbye to her family. God dammit, her sister gave her own life for hers. No, she wouldn't think about that. She couldn't think about that. She took more deep breaths; she had to calm herself down. What do you live for when everything you ever loved was gone forever?

* * *

><p>Andrea stood holding her sister like she hadn't seen her since birth, watching Rick with his family. It was a heartwarming sight, one she wouldn't soon forget. She hugged her sister tighter; if that was possible, thinking of how hard it would be to go through this without her. She sighed and a movement caught her attention. She turned her head and saw Glenn walking back to the truck.<p>

"Glenn!" she whispered, "Where are you going?"

"Rose is still in the truck. I'm just going to check on her." He said.

"Oh," she had actually forgotten about Rose to be honest. She suddenly felt bad, even if she did almost get them killed, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I don't want to scare her."

"She's not an animal, Glenn."

"I know. But we don't know what she's gone through. What if she's traumatized or something? I don't know; just let me handle it, okay?"

He walked away without hearing her answer and she watched him leave. Why all of the sudden did this girl's feelings and past mean anything to him? She considered it for only a moment before returning to her own family, the only family she had left and watching Rick find his own. She would deal with Glenn later, at that moment the only thing she wanted to care about was her sister.

* * *

><p>"Rose?" Glenn peered into the back of the truck and found her just as Rick had left her. Her face was buried in her arms, rested on her knees but she wasn't crying. He could see her back rise and fall with deep breaths. She looked up at him and a weak smile appeared on her lips.<p>

"Hey, Glenn." She said.

"Are you alright?" he said, sitting next to her.

She took a deep breath, thinking a moment, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I was worried when you didn't come out of the truck. I thought maybe you didn't make it out of the city."

"Oh, sorry. I'm still alive and kickin'. And you still have to deal with me." She chuckled, shrugging.

Glenn smiled, "Nah, you handled yourself pretty well back there."

"Well, thanks. Just, you know, nervous about meeting new people." She said. She knew it was a lie and she felt bad about it. She wanted to tell him the truth, to be good friends with someone and let them know that she was slowly breaking, but she didn't feel like now was the time to lay something like that out for everyone, even just one person, to see.

"Don't worry, they're all still alive." He nudged her and she laughed.

"Rose!" Rick called from outside.

"I guess that's my cue." She got to her feet and he stood after her.

"Allow me to be your guide." He held out his elbow and she took it with a smile. He helped her down off the truck and escorted her to the camp she would soon call her home with the people she would soon call her family.


	8. As Close as Family

**Hello(: **

**Sorry I haven't updated as much. My internet's been acting up lately. It's the suck.**

**Here's something you probably don't care about: I move into my dorm on Saturday! :D**

**And to liz-o4, thank you soooo much for your review! I know what you mean. I feel like October is getting her slower and slower as the days go by. But they're supposed to have sixteen episodes this season! :D**

**Any road, enjoy!(:**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.**

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest." Rick explained his story to those listening around the campfire later that night. It was late and the afternoon had been spent much like most afternoons at camp, or at least that's what Glenn told Rose. Everyone had something to do to keep the place running and she had spent most of the day with Glenn, trying to learn the ropes to pull her weight. She wanted to be able to earn her place; she wanted to feel a part of this "family." She looked at the people around her. Amy and Andrea sat cuddled on the other side of where she was sitting. She honestly had a hard time looking at them, it reminded her too much of her sister. How they sat locked into each other's grip as their mom and uncle…she stopped herself before the tears came. Now was not the time. Dale seemed nice; she liked him quite a bit. She could tell he was just as caring as he was kind and it was a nice change from the hostility in the city. T-Dog sat on one side of her. He was cool, but she hadn't really talked to him much. She turned to Rick and his newly reunited family and smiled. Little Carl was a cute kid, and he seemed smart for his age. It didn't surprise her, but she felt bad for him. He had to grow up so fast if he wanted to survive, and his childhood was being taken away from him at that very moment. Her eyes found Lori's face, Rick's wife. She liked her okay, but something about her just seemed off. Rose wasn't one to judge though, so she kept her mouth shut. Glenn sat closest to her on her other side. He was the one she spent most of her afternoon with. They talked about almost everything and there wasn't a dull moment in conversation the whole time. He was really easy to talk to and Rose felt she could already call him her best friend.

"Fear, confusion—all those things but, disoriented comes closest." Rick continued, bringing Rose from her thoughts.

"Words can be meager things." Said Dale, "Sometimes they fall short."

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever."

Rose watched Rick as he spoke. He held tight to his wife and stroked his son's hair absentmindedly. There was a connection, a bond between Rick and herself, she felt. Something that couldn't be broken. A brotherly, fatherly type thing. He saved her life, she couldn't repay him for that, there wasn't any way possible. If he'd left her on that farm she'd have died. She sighed.

"Mom said you died." Carl looked up at his father.

"She had every reason to believe that." Said Rick, "Don't you ever doubt it."

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were going to medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta and it never happened." Lori explained.

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell. And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive." Shane said. Rose looked at him and she could feel the glare on her face. She didn't like him. She didn't know why really, she just had a bad feeling about him. She rolled her eyes as he continued to speak, "I barely got them out, you know?"

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it."

"There go those words falling short again." Dale smiled, "Paltry things."

Rose gave a soft giggle, staring down at her hands. When she looked up everyone was looking at her. She have them an innocent _what-did-I-do?_ face. Rick chuckled, "And then I came across this one, begging me on the verge of death."

"Oh, don't exaggerate." She argued with a smile, "I was not on the verge of death."

They had a small laugh and Rose looked at Rick. She was lying and they both knew it. If he hadn't found her and got her to safety and food she would have died. That would be there little secret.

"You look a little thin, but I think you'll live." Dale winked and she smiled sheepishly, thankful for the darkness so no one would see he cheeks get hot. The sound of a log thrown on the fire directed everyone's attention to the small fire behind Rose. A large, scary looking man and a woman with cropped, silver hair sat around another fire. A small girl with short blonde hair was seated next to the woman. They looked a little afraid, but Rose wasn't really sure of what.

"Hey, Ed, you wanna rethink that log?" said Shane. Rose felt like slapping him.

"It's cold, man." Ed replied, bringing a cigarette to his mouth.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers, so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold. Why don't you mind your own business for once?"

Everyone was quiet as Shane stood and approached Ed and what appeared to be his family. Rose turned back to their own fire, trying to avoid the scene behind her. Truthfully she just wanted to go to sleep, but she wasn't sure where she was sleeping at that point. She yawned and waited for Shane to return and when he did Dale spoke up.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

Rose felt a pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach. She was starting to regret letting them leave Merle up there like that. Yeah, he was being a douche, but his brother loved him. Well, at least she assumed his brother loved him. Who knew? At this point, they may simply tolerate each other because they're all they've got left. And even then leaving someone's brother on a roof to die sounded like the worst thing on the planet to Rose right then. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her kneecaps.

"I'll tell him." T-Dog said, "I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick argued.

"Guys, it's not a competition." Said Rose, "Look, it's not anybody's fault. Merle needed to take a chill pill in the first place. You tried to help, it was an accident." She felt she was trying to make herself feel better more than trying to settle the argument.

"And I hate to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn looked at T-Dog sympathetically.

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him." He replied.

"We could lie." Amy suggested.

"Or tell the truth." Said Andrea, "It's like Rose said, Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She looked at Lori and her family, "Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" said Dale. The guilt returned and Rose held back a groan, taking a deep breath. Dale continued, "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise—we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it." Said T-Dog.

"We were all scared. We all ran." Rose stared at the fire, her chin still in her knees and her arms were wrapped around her legs for warmth, "I don't think anybody blames you."

"Yeah, what's your point?" said Andrea.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that—not that chain, not that padlock." T-Dog explained.

Rose looked at Glenn with a look of realization. She turned back to the fire, "So what you're saying is Merle's alive?"

"He's alive. And he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us."


	9. Enter Daryl

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.**

The next morning Rose woke up next to Amy. They had graciously offered to share their tent with her after everyone had dispersed for the night. She stretched and sat up, looking around. Andrea was already up and gone. She shrugged and something fell out of her pocket. She sucked in a breath when she saw the grenade she'd found in the tank the day before roll to the corner of the tent. She picked it up and stuffed it in her pillowcase. She could see Amy's eyes flutter open and she hurried to pretend like all she had done was stretch instead of hide an extremely dangerous weapon in their tent. They did not have to share it with her, but they did it out of the kindness of their hearts and she did not want to ruin it because of an explosive.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Rose asked.

"No, I've been awake." She smiled at her and stood. Rose smiled back and left the tent so Amy could change. She watched the blonde zip up the door and sighed, hoping she wouldn't step on it, wishing she had her backpack to put it in. Thinking of her pack reminded her that she didn't have any extra clothes since she'd dropped it in back in the city. She flipped her hair over and shook it out before pulling it up out of her face. She walked up the hill away from the tents and looked around, trying to forget about the weapon when Carol stopped her, "Rose, do you want us to wash those clothes for you?"

Rose looked down at herself. It would be really nice to have clean clothes. But the thought of her pack lying in the streets of Atlanta again simply reminded her she had nothing else to wear. She sighed, "I would love that, but I don't have any other clothes."

"I'm sure we can find something for you. Maybe later." She smiled and Rose thanked her, continuing her sweep of the camp. It didn't seem she was needed anywhere and she spotted Glenn over by the red car he'd drove yesterday. She approached him, waving to Amy who had joined her sister and Lori to hang laundry, and bid him good morning.

"Morning." He sighed, not looking at her.

"Is everything okay?"

"Just taking one last look at the car before they completely kill it."

She looked at the red vehicle and understood what he was saying. Dale, Morales and some of the other men were taking it apart piece by piece to use on the other vehicles they used. She put a hand on his shoulder when Rick approached them.

"Look at 'em. Vultures." Glenn continued, "Yeah, go on, strip it clean."

"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it." Dale clamped his shoulder as he walked by.

"I'm sorry, Glenn." Rose said.

"Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." He explained to her and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Well, maybe you'll get to steal another one someday." She offered.

Rick smiled and walked away. Glenn looked at Rose, "Are you always this sun-shiny?"

She laughed, "Well somebody has to be."

Suddenly Carl screamed and Rose started for the direction it came from but Glenn stopped her, "No, stay here."

He ran after the crowd and she looked around unsure. Everyone was making their way to the scene and she wanted to follow them but she didn't want to get in anybody's way. She started to fidget and look around till she heard her name and flew around. Amy reached out for her and she took it, running after the group of people in the small clearing by the tents. She gasped and clung to Amy's arm at the sight of a walker feasting on a downed deer. A few of the men had weapons of all kinds, taking turns banging its head in till Dale decapitated it with an axe. Rose made a face.

"It's the first one we've had up here." Dale commented, "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're runnin' out of food in the city, that's what." One of the men dressed in a mechanic-type uniform (Jim, Rose recalled) spoke, wiping his face with his arm. A branch snapped in the brush and every weapon in sight was aimed in the direction of the sound. Andrea pushed Amy and Rose back but Rose pushed forward, wanting to know who or what was approaching, leaning over Andrea's arm. A man with brown hair and a crossbow came out of the wood, cursing under his breath. They all released a sigh of relief.

"Son of a bitch." He said, "That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless proxy bastard!" he kicked at the dead walker's body relentlessly and Rose watched him.

"He ain't angry, is he?" she whispered to Amy, crossing her arms over her chest with a cocked hip. Amy chuckled, but despite her joke, he seemed extremely familiar to her. She wanted to ask but figured she'd learn who he was eventually since the camp seemed to know who he was so she kept her mouth shut.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping." Dale said.

"What do you know about it, old man?" Mr. Anger Issues approached Dale and got in his face, "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" he backed up and took a few steps towards the dead animal, "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison."

Rose wasn't really sure what that was, but it didn't really sound appetizing to her.

"What do you think? DO you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Anger Issues looked at Shane who had his gun slung over his shoulders.

"I would not risk that." He replied.

"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel—about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

Rose made another face at the dead carcasses hanging over his shoulder and suddenly the disembodied head came to life. She took a step back as Andrea and Amy walked away.

"Come on people. What the hell?" Anger Issues with the Dead Squirrels put an arrow through its eye. It stopped moving and he retrieved his arrow, "Don't y'all know nothin'?"

Rose rolled her eyes and he made his way back toward camp. Her opinion so far had been stuck up, country douche-bag until he started to call out for Merle and she stopped dead in her tracks. That was Merle's brother. That was why he seemed so familiar; she could see the family resemblance in looks and personality. Guilt came back as she followed the crowd back from the woods. Daryl continued to call his brother's name and it made her feel worse and worse every time he said it.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane walked up to him and Rose stood with Glenn, her arms wrapped around her stomach.

Daryl stopped and looked at him, "About what?"

Shane walked past him and turned to him, "About Merle. There was a—there was a problem in Atlanta."

He was silent a moment and Rose took a few deep breaths before he spoke, "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!" his voice elevated and Rose winced as if he'd actually hit her. She didn't really understand why she felt so guilty. She didn't even know this man, yet she still felt as if the whole thing was her fault. Maybe it was because if she'd been put in that situation with her sister, if her sister was still alive—she stopped at that thought. All that would do was upset her.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick stepped in.

"What are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?"

Rick paused a moment, "Yeah."

Daryl stared him down, angry breaths coming from his nose as he threw the rope full of dead squirrel at him. Rick ducked and Shane tackled Daryl to the ground. Daryl pulled a knife from his belt and Rose reached out to stop them but Glenn held her back. She looked at him and he shook his head. She stood down and watched the fight from afar. The whole thing ended with Shane getting Daryl in a headlock. Rick kneeled to the ground and looked Daryl in the face.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" he said.

Daryl didn't answer and Shane let him go. Rose started biting her nails.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault." T-Dog walked in, arms full of logs and branches, "I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl snarled.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Daryl scoffed and stood, "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof—so the geeks couldn't get at him—with a padlock."

Daryl was silent.

"It's gotta count for somethin'." Rose's voice was just loud enough for him to hear her. She felt bad for him, yes, but at the same time he was pissing her off. They were trying to be nice and help him and all he was doing was throwing it back in their face. Yeah, maybe they did deserve it a little bit, but she still stood by her theory that it was Merle's fault. She wasn't afraid to admit she almost had a soft spot for Daryl already just because of the sibling ordeal, she understood, but he had to see it from their side of the story as well.

"What did you say to me?" Daryl approached her, "Who are you?"

Glenn took a small step forward but she laid a soft hand on his chest, looking Daryl right in the eye and standing her ground, "Rose." She said simply.

"What does any of this have to do with you?"

"'Cause I was there, dumb butt! And Rick's right. You and your brother both need to learn how to work with others, as a team or it's gonna get somebody killed. If you're not careful, that 'somebody' might be you one of these days, but it sure as hell better not be me."

She looked him right in the face and immediately regretted every word she'd ever spoken in her life. His eyes looked glossy, as if he was about to cry but she knew he wouldn't. She'd only known this man a few minutes and knew he would never show that side of him to anyone of these people. Her face softened and she wanted to reach out to him, to let him know that she understood but restrained herself and he discreetly wiped his eyes with his arm.

"Hell with all y'all!" he finally said, "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him."

"Rick'll show you." Said Lori, "Isn't that right?"

Rick was quiet a moment and every stared at him. He seemed to trying to choose his words carefully but there weren't many to choose from, "I'm going back."

* * *

><p>Rose stood staring out over the water beside Dale's RV. Rick and Daryl were preparing to go back into the city after Merle and she desperately wanted to go with them. She could care less about Merle but the look on his brother's face when she'd snapped a little hit her hard. His glossy eyes etched in her brain as if karma was punishing her for some long lost sin she'd done. She sighed; she didn't think Rick would let her go. She heaved another breath as another thought crossed her mind. She wondered if he was going to try and get the bag of guns she'd dropped. It wasn't too far from the department store so maybe he could get at it now. Maybe some of the walkers had dispersed a bit. And her backpack. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her copper hair. She felt like shit. If she hadn't dropped those bags they'd be more armed, not as defenseless. And her bag held everything from her old life that she'd held close. She could ask them to bring it back for her; that is if she couldn't go. There was still a chance she could. She was old enough to make her own decisions but still young enough to be told what to do. It was aggravating as hell. Being nineteen in a zombie apocalypse was just as hard as being nineteen when life was normal. She wanted to bring the bags back herself, to prove that she was worth something. That she could hold her own when things got bad. But that was the problem, she really didn't know if she could. Nightmares of the night she lost her family still haunted her almost every night. She didn't know if she could handle it if something like that ever happened again, at least not for a while. She didn't want anybody knowing about that. That she was unstable at all. If they knew they wouldn't let her do anything and that was the last thing she wanted.<p>

"Hey." A voice sounded next to her and she jumped. But she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Glenn standing next to her.

"Oh, Glenn. You scared me." She said.

"Sorry." He stuck his hands in his back pockets, "I was just making sure you were alright. You looked frustrated."

"Well, who isn't?" she lied, turning back to the water. There was a moment of silence between them and Rose didn't feel it was awkward at all. It was simply silence, both of them listening to the noises of camp around them. The breeze picked up and Rose took in a deep breath through her nose. She could smell the scent coming from the water and it was a nice change from the smell of sweat, fire and laundry that came from her home behind her. She didn't mind it, nothing had felt more like home than this camp did but when stress started to take over the smell of nature was really nice.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Glenn asked. Rose smiled at him and opened her mouth to reply but the sound of Rick and Shane's argument reached them and they turned towards the scene. Rose and Glenn looked at each other and approached the circle of people around the cops.

"Could you just tell me why?" Shane was saying, "Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

"Hey," Daryl stood close by, "choose your words more carefully."

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon—the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dyin' of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst—me." Rick argued, "Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" said Lori.

Rick looked at her and took a really deep breath before turning to Glenn at Rose's left.

"Oh, come on." he complained, exasperated.

"You know the way. You've been there before—in and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Rick said. He paused and Glenn ran his fingers through his dark hair before replacing his cap. He didn't look happy about it but he seemed to agree.

"It's not fair of me to ask—I know that—but I'd feel a lot better with you along." Rick continued, "I know she would too." He gestured towards his wife.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane said.

"Four." T-Dog spoke up.

"Why you?" Daryl huffed.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language."

Daryl chuckled, "My day just gets better and better, don't it?"

"You see anybody else here steppin' up to save your brother's cracker ass?"

"I will." Rose took a step up. Everyone looked at her as if she'd grown and extra head but she was completely serious. Shane looked at her and began to argue that she didn't need to go and she glared at him.

"Who made you my keeper?" she snapped.

"You're just a little girl-," he started but she cut him off.

"I'm nineteen for your information and that still doesn't give you the right to anything. I don't know who gave you that idea, but you're not my father."

She stared him down and Rick pushed his Shane back before he could say anything else. Glenn took Rose's arm and pulled her back a bit. She let him but continued to glare daggers into Shane's chest. It was silent until Dale spoke, "That's five, then."

"It's not just five." Said Shane, glancing at Rose before turning back to Rick, "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're movin' out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp."

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick said calmly. Shane was silent and a pang of guilt hit Rose like a thousand bullets and she took a deep, shaky breath to calm her stomach, hoping her face stayed strong. Glenn looked at her then back at Rick as the memory of the bag of weapons came back to him.

"Right, the guns." He spoke.

"Wait. What guns?" Shane's tone was different now and it pissed Rose off to no end.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen hand guns." Rick listed.

"_And a grenade in my pillowcase." _Rose thought. She bit her lip.

"I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left."

"Why didn't you bring 'em here with you?" Shane asked.

Rose sighed, "Because I dropped the bag in Atlanta."

The group turned to look at her and she averted her eyes. She scuffed the dirt with her brown suede ankle boots.

"Look, nobody blames you, Rosie." Rick said.

"Well, maybe nobody else does but I do. I need to go and fix my mistake. I should have held tighter to the bag and nobody needs to be fixing this but me."

"We can argue this later. Is there ammo?" said Shane. Rose rolled her eyes.

"700 rounds, assorted." Rick answered.

"You went through hell to find us." Said Lori, "You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?"

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl pleaded.

Rose could feel her heart being ripped in two. She wanted Rick to stay here with his family, protect them like he should, and she almost voiced what she was thinking but bit her tongue. This was his decision, not hers. She took a seat in the dirt, suddenly feeling sick and Glenn sat with her, rubbing her back with his knuckles while she took deep, steady breaths.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." said Lori. Rick took a step toward her in silence.

"Tell me. Make me understand." She begged.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy." He said, "Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. It's because of them that I found Rose and if I hadn't done that, _she _might've died. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him."

She seemed to consider this a moment, "What's stopping you?"

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag in the city. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

Rose ran her fingers through her hair. She didn't much care if nobody else blamed her for dropping the bags, she felt like shit. And the more the conversation dragged on the more she wanted to leave and head back into the city, but she kept her mouth shut and concentrated on the circles Glenn was absent mindedly drawing on her back.

"These are our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah." Said Rick.

"So use the CB. What's wrong with that?" said Andrea.

"The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap—date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth—not even the scanners in our cars." Shane explained.

Rick looked at Lori, "I need that bag." He kneeled down in front of Carl, "Okay?"

His son simply nodded.


	10. The Feeling of Being Worthless

**Guys! I'm not dead! :D**

**But seriously guys, I haven't sat down to work on my personal stuff since college started..**

**I hope this makes up for my disappearance(:**

**Enjoy **

**I own nothing you recognize.**

"Hey Daryl, do you need any help with that?" Rose approached the van that Daryl was loading up with supplies for their trip into the city. She'd been trying to find some way to help prepare for the past two and a half hours with no luck. Sure, she had convinced them to let her go and fix her mistake but now no one was letting her anywhere near anything. She felt so useless and she couldn't stand it. She wanted to be a part of the camp. To put in her fair share of work, to show them she wasn't some worthless little girl stuck in this God forsaken world. But so far, no such luck.

"No, I don't need no one's-" Daryl's voice trailed off when he looked up and saw Rose staring him in the face. He averted his eyes and his tone softened as he bent down to mess with his crossbow, "No, I don't need no help."

He turned his back on her and she sighed. What was she supposed to do? She wished she'd never dropped those damn bags. If she hadn't, they wouldn't be in this situation. Well, she wasn't sure if they would still have this problem with Merle, but the thought still stuck in the back of her mind. She turned back towards the camp and watched everyone working hard to keep the place running smoothly, or as smoothly as one could in their predicament. She stood next to the camper and looked over the blue water. She wanted so bad to simply hurry up the preparation process and leave so they could just leave. She wanted to fix what she'd done wrong and she couldn't do a thing here. Apparently she couldn't even help pack for the trip. She'd done more work around her house when she was ten.

"Hey." Glenn walked up to her and she looked at him.

"Hey, Glenn."

"How're you holding up?"

She took a deep breath, "Fine. I'm just ready to go so I can fix this."

"Look, Rick's already said it once, but you know nobody blames you, right?"

Rose rubbed her face, "Yeah, I know, but that's not the point. I blame myself and I want to help. I feel like crap because if I hadn't dropped the bags in the first place," another thought hit her and that guilty feeling came back. She dropped her head and turned away from him, "or maybe I shouldn't have got in between T-Dog and Merle."

"Rosie, you were lucky to get out in one piece. You were swarmed, that's not your fault. And as for Merle, well, he's just a nutcase."

She chuckled a bit and Glenn led her to the cube van and opened the door, helping her into the driver's seat where she crawled into the passenger's side. He hopped into the driver's seat and shut the door.

"I still feel like shit." She said flatly.

"We'll fix it, I promise." He smiled and she smiled back.

"God, what is taking them so goddamn long?" Daryl came in between them and stomped his foot on the horn. Glenn looked at him with a look that said "what the hell"?

"You're gonna draw in every walker for miles around!" Rose scolded in a loud whisper. But Daryl seemed to ignore both of them as T-Dog crawled into the back of the van and sat down. Rose rolled her eyes and sat across from him so Rick could sit up front. Surprisingly, Daryl sat next to her after he shut the large door. She looked at him a moment but didn't say anything about it. She still felt bad about Merle. Glenn looked at her and they both took deep breaths as he started the vehicle and they drove away from camp. Part of the windshield and Glenn's window were the only places Rose could see outside so she sat in the silence and watched the world go by them. Now that they were actually leaving she started to get nervous. What if she screwed up again? What if she did something wrong and got somebody killed? The thoughts came rushing through her head faster than the speed the light was entering her eyes. It was a bumpy ride and she kept getting shoved into Daryl's arm and he expected him to go off but to her surprise he didn't say a word. He didn't even look at her. She looked watched him out of the corner of her eye and he simply sat there, looking out the window or the wall of the cube van but he didn't say a word until Atlanta's skyscrapers came into view.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl said, looking at T-Dog across from them, "That's my only word on the matter."

"I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." T-Dog argued. The van suddenly came to a stop and Glenn cut the engine off and turned back towards everyone.

"We walk from here." He said.

Rick and Glenn opened their doors and stepped down onto the train tracks Glenn had parked on while Daryl opened the back door and jumped down, T-Dog and Rose following after him. They looked around and jogged towards a chain-link gate that led into the city, slipping through alleyways and around open areas where all of the walkers were likely to be, trying to be as silent as possible. They made their way to the department store from before to find it empty. Empty as far as they knew.

Rick led the way, taking soft, silent steps. They were in the clear for a short while but Rick suddenly held up his hand, signaling them to stop and they all froze. He looked at Daryl and pointed two fingers at his own eyes then at the walker that was dragging her feet behind one of the mannequins a few feet ahead of them. She didn't seem like she had noticed them just yet until Daryl approached her with his crossbow, aiming it at her head.

"Damn." He mumbled, "You are one ugly skank." He pulled the trigger and she fell to the ground in an ugly heap on the tile. Rose made a face as he retrieved his arrow and they moved on through the store. They found the stairwell and broke out into a run, reaching the door as T-Dog took the cutters to the chain. The steel rings slumped down with a clang and Daryl kicked the door open, crossbow in hand, calling out his brother's name. They ran out into the roof and Rose sucked in a breath, her hand covering her open mouth. She could feel the tears swell up in her eyes as Daryl cried out for the only family he had left with no reply. They were all silent as they stared at bloody hacksaw lying next to the pool of blood; Merle's severed hand lying out in the sun and the handcuffs still hanging from the pipe.

But Merle was nowhere to be found.


	11. Vatos

**Guys! I'm still not dead! :D**

**But seriously, as you all know, the season two premier was a few Sundays ago and was it not the most glorious thing you ever watched in your life? I, loved. It. And yesterday's episode was also pretty amazing.**

**Anyway, here's a chapter to show that I still exist. Enjoy!**

**I don't own anything you recognize.**

T-Dog and Rick walked down the steps towards Daryl, who was breathing heavy through his nose. They all stared at the bloodied, severed hand lying on the ground with a sense of awe and a little disgust. Rose thought she might be sick, but she concentrated on taking steady breaths through her mouth. But she almost jumped out of her skin when Daryl suddenly flung his crossbow around, aiming at T-Dog. Glenn held her back as she screamed and lunged at Daryl, putting a hand over her mouth and his other arm around her waist. Rick raised his arm so his weapon was pointed at Daryl's head. T-Dog stood grounded, looking his attacker in the eye. They all stood there like that for a moment, Glenn trying to keep Rose from going at Daryl full force, their breaths heavy. Rose couldn't tell which part of her was scared or angry, but something about having Glenn's arms around her, no matter the situation, relaxed her. She found her thoughts taking a turn from not wanting Daryl to hurt T-Dog to wanting to forget everything that was going on and just sit and talk to Glenn. Pretend that this never happened, the world never ended and she could just sit here with him and talk about normal things and have her normal life back. Rick's steady voice brought her out of her thoughts and back to the situation at hand. She blinked sweat out of her eyes but couldn't seem to slow her breathing.

"I won't hesitate." Said Rick, "I don't care if every walker in the city hears it."

Daryl continued to stand there a moment longer and Rose stared him down. If he laid a finger on T-Dog she was ready to rip herself from Glenn's grip and go after him. But something about the look in Daryl's eyes triggered something. She could see the tears in his eyes just before he blinked them away. Tears she knew he would never reveal to any of them, not Daryl Dixon. Rose peeled Glenn's hand away from her face, holding it on her stomach with his other arm. The pain she felt for Daryl brought back horrible memories that only made what was happening right now so much worse. She thought she would break right then and there, but she held it together, thinking of the reason she came with them, to prove that she was worth something, that she could take care of herself. She held it together then, but she wasn't sure how long it would last.

Daryl lowered his weapon and took a deep breath. Rick followed suit, him down as he took deep, shallow breaths. He suddenly looked straight at Rose, then to T-Dog.

"You got a do-rag or something'?" he asked. T-Dog pulled a bandana from his pocket and Daryl snatched it from him, kneeling down next to his brother's hand. Rose wiggled out of Glenn's grip and ran towards Rick and T-Dog, Glenn not far behind.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." Daryl was saying as he wrapped the extremity in the cloth. Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, and Rose all looked away. Daryl stood and gestured from Glenn to come closer, who made a face as he stuffed the hand in his backpack. Rose gave him a sympathetic look and went to stand beside him.

"He must've used a tourniquet—maybe his belt." Daryl thought out loud. "Be much more blood if he didn't."

He continued on, following the trail of blood, crossbow at the ready. The rest of the group followed close behind in silence, Rose trailing after Glenn and T-Dog grabbing the tool kit he'd dropped the last time they were there and they continued into one of the buildings, Daryl in the lead calling out for his brother. They found their way into what looked like a very important person's office, finding a walker trapped inside. Daryl made quick work of it and they continued on. Up ahead, two walkers lay dead on the ground amongst splatters of blood that led into the next room.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches," said Daryl, stepping around the bodies. "One handed." He stopped a moment to reload his crossbow, "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick led the way, gun first into the next room. Some sort of kitchen was laid out in front of them.

"Merle!" Daryl called.

"We're not alone here." Rick scolded, "Remember?"

"Screw that. He could bleedin' out. You said so yourself."

Rose had stayed quiet since the incident on the roof. All she could think about were the tears in Daryl's eyes when his brother was nowhere to be seen. She could only imagine the kind of pain he felt even if he didn't show it, it didn't matter. She could see it in his eyes, the same look she saw when she looked in the mirror when she thought about her sister. Just thinking about it then made her heart ache. But something else caught her attention and she turned to Glenn.

"Do you smell that?" she said.

"Smell what?" he whispered back.

"It smells like fire." She stood and followed right behind Daryl till they came to a lit stove splattered with fresh blood. She took a step towards it to get a better look and Rick stepped around her. There was some type of iron lying on the stove and he examined it closely before making a face and setting it back down. Something was smeared all over it and the smell that reached her nostrils was all too familiar. She had a feeling she knew what happened but she turned to Rick cautiously anyway.

"What's that burned stuff?" she asked in a low whisper.

"Skin." He confirmed, "He cauterized the stump."

Rose closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath through her mouth and stepped towards the window. She couldn't even imagine how painful that must've been, even for Merle. She didn't like him, but just the thought of what he had to have done made her sick. She opened her eyes and the window was right in her line of vision, but one of the squares was broken as if someone had punched their way through it. She approached it and looked out to see glass shattered on the ledge outside with a bloody towel on top of it. She sucked in a breath as she realized what had happened.

"Hey, Rick," she said over her shoulder, "I think you're gonna wanna see this."

The boys all came up behind her and she stepped out of the way so they could see what she'd discovered. Glenn's eyes grew wide at his realization, "He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl stood next to Rose, staring out the window.

"He's out there alone as far as he knows," Rose said and Daryl looked up at her. He seemed to look at her differently from the rest of the group. He didn't look at her full of hatred or utter worthlessness, though he'd only known her a few hours. It was as if something clicked when he looked at her. It wasn't love, no, not by any means. But it was definitely something.

"Doin' what he's got to do." he finally said, "Survivin'."

"You call that survivin'?" said T-Dog, "Just wanderin' out in the streets, maybe passin' out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than bein' handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks."

They all looked at him in frustration as he turned to Rick, "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dead bastard."

"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards?" Rick shot back, "Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."

He started to walk away but Rick put a hand on his chest and pushed him back, "Daryl, wait."

"Get your hands off me!" he exploded on him, "You can't stop me."

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel."

Daryl paused and Rose could see the tears, bringing the guilt back into her stomach. She took a deep breath and looked away.

"He can't get far with that injury." Rick continued, "We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

Daryl was quiet a moment and Rose looked at him, "I could do that." He said.

"Only if we get those guns first." Said T-Dog, "I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

Rick nodded and looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be waiting on his orders, but he remained silent, gathering his thoughts. How were they going to accomplish this? He hadn't the slightest idea but he needed to think quickly. He didn't think Merle had gotten far at that point but the longer they waited to further he would get and they still needed to get the guns and Rose's bag.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Rose stepped up.

"I think I have a plan." Said Glenn. Everyone looked at him as if he'd said that the walkers were suddenly flying through the sky. But they followed him nonetheless into a nearby office with tile floors where they gathered around him as he drew out a map of the city with an Expo marker on the floor, explaining his plan as he drew.

"You're not doing this alone." Rick commented.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Said Daryl. Rose shot him a look from Glenn's side and Daryl merely shrugged. She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Glenn's plan.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out." Glenn argued. Rick sighed and kneeled down closer to Glenn's map as he continued to explain his plan, "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look, Rose, hand me some stuff from that desk."

She stood and swiped a few small objects from the furniture and sat on one knee, with the other brought to her chest, her hand reached out so she held out the things she'd grabbed to Glenn. He took a large paper clip and placed it by one of the large squares resembling a city block, "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." He took a small crumbled paper from Rose's palm and dropped it next to the paper clip, "That's the bag of guns and Rose's backpack. Here's the alley I dragged you two into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Rose and I will go." He looked at Rick, then to Rose.

"Why me and Ginger?" said Daryl.

Glenn looked at him, "Your crossbow is quieter than his gun." He gestured to Rick, "and Rose will have your back."

Daryl was silent and Glenn took another object from Rose's hand, "While Rose and Daryl wait here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bags."

"But you got me and T-Dog elsewhere?" said Rick.

"Right." He took the eraser from Rose, "You'll be in the alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?"

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Rose and Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?"

Rick and Daryl exchanged glances and Glenn looked at Rose who shrugged and stood, preparing to leave, ready to prove her worth. Prove she wasn't just dead wait, wasn't a little crybaby who couldn't take care of herself. She wanted to be a part of this group, this family they had created amongst this losing battle of dead and decay. She wanted to survive and to make it out, to be able to tell people years from now when this was all over that she was there, and she survived, and she wasn't worthless. And she would start with this. Star by fixing what she did wrong in the first place. She was trustworthy, she could be trusted, and she would prove that, no matter what.

They split up and went their separate ways according to Glenn's plan. Rose followed behind Glenn and Daryl, climbing down one of the escape ladders. When they were all down, Daryl loaded his crossbow as Rose and Glenn crouched behind a dumpster.

"You got some balls for a chinaman." Daryl said to Glenn.

"I'm Korean." Glenn rolled his eyes and removed the flannel shirt over his black tee and handed it to Rose, running out into the street.

"Whatever." Daryl loaded a bow into his weapon.

"Daryl!" Rose scolded in a loud whisper, but he ignored her. She sighed and peered out from behind the dumpster as Glenn dived behind some sandbags. He was close to retrieving the two bags, but the walkers were also starting to realize that he was there and were beginning to close in. She was preparing to go help if things got bad but Daryl put a hand over her mouth and pulled her down with him so they were sitting in the corner of the trash bin and the wall. She looked at him as if he was crazy but he held his finger to his lips and let go of her head.

"Stay here, where you're safe." He whispered. She was silent as he instructed and he peeked around the corner before he jumped out, aiming it at something she couldn't see. She could hear someone call out for him not to shoot, so it obviously wasn't a walker. She peeked around the corner to see a young Mexican boy with his hands up in surrender.

"What do you want?" he begged.

Daryl didn't lower his weapon, "I'm looking for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?"

The boy didn't answer, "¡Ayúdame!"

Something triggered in Rose's brain and she stood, running towards Daryl, "Daryl, wait!"

"Gingy, get down and be quiet!" Daryl instructed as the boy called out again, "And you shut up!"

"But Daryl, I can help!" Rose pleaded, turning to the boy, "Por favor, hablo español. Puedo ayudar."

The boy looked at her and Daryl hesitated a moment before simply ignoring her and continued to wack the boy upside the head with his crossbow. Rose kept begging for him to stop and gasped when she spotted two men running at them down the alleyway.

"Daryl, look out!" She lunged for him but it was too late. They came at Daryl with their bare hands and a bat, beating him relentlessly. Rose tried to stop them but when she reached for him one of the men shoved her out of the way so she hit the hard, brick wall. She could feel a dull ache in her head where it made contact with the brick and she could feel the warm blood running down her face and into her eye. She ignored it and stood again, trying to get at Daryl once again with no avail. She could already feel the bruises forming from the men's elbows and the bat. But something made them stop and she followed their gaze to where Glenn stood awestruck. Her eyes grew wide and she did the only thing she could think of. She reared back and punched one of the men's jawline as hard as she could. He screamed out in pain and picked her up by her shirt collar as the other man went after Glenn.

"Glenn!" Rose called out, but it was no use. He barely had time to process what was happening before the man got ahold of him and went at him with the bat. Rose struggled against the man holding her with no avail. He was a lot stronger than her and there was no way she was going to overpower him. She began to beg in both languages, her eyes glossy. Daryl was finally able to get up and get access to his weapon. He took aim and shot the man holding Rose and he dropped her. She hit the ground and stood as quickly as she could, ready to go after Glenn but she wasn't fast enough. They already had him in the car and were driving off.

"Glenn, no!" she ran to the gate and Daryl had to run after her and close it so the walkers wouldn't get at her. She could feel the tears and she didn't care one bit. Glenn was her best friend and there was no telling what they were gonna do to him. She turned to Daryl and shoved him, "Why would you do that? Why did you save me? I was doing just fine! You should've saved Glenn! I can handle myself!" She continued to shove him and she could see the anger rise up in his eyes.

"Excuse me? I just saved your ass! And that's the thanks I get?" He grabbed her wrists, "Those sumbitches could've killed you and you're pissed that I saved your butt from suffocation? You need to get your priorities straight!"

"I was fine! Now Glenn's gone! We have to go save him!" she seemed to be having problems deciding if she wanted to keep shoving him or pull away from him and angry, terrified tears streamed down her face. Daryl saw the boy trying to slip away out of the corner of his eye. He threw Rose's wrists down and ran after him, knocking him on the ground about the time Rick and T-Dog came running down the alleyway.

"They took Glenn!" Rose exclaimed as Rick ran towards her, "Rick, they took him! We have to go save him!"

"This little bastard and his little bastard homie friends." Said Daryl with his foot on the boys shoulder, "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"If you would've stopped that guy from going after Glenn maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!" Rose took a few steps toward him and Rick grabbed her waist.

"Sorry for saving your ass, but if I hadn't you might be dead right now!"

"Hey!" Rick called out, "Don't start blaming each other, there's no time for that!" he looked back at the walkers trying to get through the gate and shoved Rose towards T-Dog, "Get to the lab. Go."

T-Dog led Rose back the way they came with Daryl and the boy trailing behind them as Rick went back for the bag of guns, Rose's backpack, and his sheriff's hat before he followed the rest of them back down the alley.


	12. Guillermo

**I own nothing!**

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went."

They were back in the room where Glenn had drawn out his plan on the tile floor and Rick was speaking to the Mexican boy who had originally snuck up on Rose and Daryl back in the alley. Rose stood by the window not paying much attention to the boys interrogating the Mexican. She was so worried about Glenn it was scary. She took some deep breaths and bit her tongue. At that point, she blamed Daryl, but she knew it wasn't his fault. He saved her life and she should be grateful but it was hard knowing that if he'd left her be Glenn would still be here and they wouldn't have this problem. She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. They had to get him back somehow, they just had to.

"I ain't tellin' you nothin'." He retorted.

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came outta know where and jumped me and Gingy." Daryl said, pacing back and forth.

"You're the one who jumped me, _puto_." Said the Mexican boy. "Screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault."

"They took Glenn. Could have Merle too."

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl went at him but Rick caught him right before his foot made contact with the boy's face. Daryl backed off, taking deep, heavy breaths. He spotted Rose staring out the window a ways away and rolled his eyes, walking towards her, "And you, pissed at me 'cause I saved your redheaded ass. Speaking their crazy-ass language."

Rick looked at Rose who had turned around and looked as if she wanted to kick Daryl where the sun don't shine. She rolled her eyes and mumbled something to herself, turning back to the window but something Daryl said stuck out to Rick.

"Rose, do you speak Spanish?" he asked.

She gave him a funny look, "Yeah, kind of. It was my major in college."

"That could come in handy later." He kneeled down in front of the boy, the gears in his head running wild with ways of getting Glenn back, "The men you were with took our friend. All we wanna do is talk to them; see if we can work something out."

The boy was silent a moment, thinking things over in his head but Daryl seemed to be growing impatient every second. He opened Glenn's bag and pulled out the bandana holding Merle's hand. Rose looked over out of the corner of her eye when things got quiet.

"You wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" he said. He took one glance at Rose before throwing it down in the boy's lap. Rose rolled her eyes as the boy yelled in alarm, falling out of his chair and onto the floor. Daryl grabbed him by the collar, "Start with the feet this time."

Rick pulled him away by the shirt, telling him to calm down but that was easier said than done when it came to Daryl Dixon. He turned to the boy, pleading with his eyes for him to agree. For all of their sakes. It was silent only a moment and the boy looked at Rose who stared back at him, "You won't need to know Spanish. We all speak English."

* * *

><p>The Mexican boy led them all to their hide out a few blocks away from the building they had been using as a base while they were in the city. The boy's gang was staked out behind a rundown building with a broken window that gave them a view of the door that led to the boy's hideout. Rick rattled some bullets in their container and looked at T-Dog, "You sure you're up to this?"<p>

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Okay." He loaded his gun as T-Dog left to stand at this post on the roof of a near-by building, carrying the bag of guns with him. Rose was looking at the building that Glenn was trapped in with apprehension, Daryl watching her. Her eyes read so many emotions, it was a wonder she didn't explode. They were glossy as if she was about to cry, but she didn't dare. Not here, not now. Daryl averted his eyes to the Mexican boy leaning on the fence, "One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know."

"G's gonna take that arrow outta my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know." The boy replied.

"Oh, can it, will you?" Rose sounded more annoyed than ever, "Both of y'all, or I'm gonna shove an arrow up both your asses." She turned back to the old, run-down building, hoping for any sign of Glenn. He'd saved her and Rick's lives when he didn't have to by any means, especially in the world they lived in now; he took a risk most people wouldn't even consider anymore. Now she would save his life just like he'd done for Rick and her. Daryl stared at her, deciding on whether or not he was gonna give her a smartass comment back, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Something about this red-headed girl made him feel the need to not seem like such a heartless, selfish redneck. He wanted to help her. Help her save Glenn, help her learn to live in this walker infested world, help her survive. He couldn't understand a bit of it. There had never been a girl quite like her that he'd ever met in his life. He wasn't in love, no, he knew that. This was something entirely different, something he couldn't decipher, but he let it go for the movement. If she was staying with them back at the camp there would be plenty of time for that.

"G?" Rick asked the boy, bringing Daryl out of his thoughts.

"Guillermo. He's the man around here." He replied.

"Okay then. Let's go see Guillermo." Rick led the group with the Mexican boy on his heels and Rose behind them, Daryl trailing behind her, his crossbow at the ready. They approached the door cautiously and waited only a moment for them to creak open and reveal a Hispanic man with a striped shirt and a cross around his neck. He stepped out into the sunlight and looked straight at the boy.

"You okay, little man?" he said.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, _carnal_." The boy replied.

The man looked at Rick, "Cops do that?"

"Not him. This redneck _puto_ here." He gestured to Daryl, "He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up." Daryl said.

"Hey, that's that _vato_ right there. He shot me in the ass with an arrow."

Rose recognized the two men who stepped out of the building behind Guillermo immediately. The one complaining was the same man who tried to strangle her and the other was the one who had gone after Glenn when Daryl was down. She felt a mixture of fear and anger at her core and she wasn't sure if her instincts were telling her to run, stand her ground or hide. She didn't know what to do. She felt her breath quicken and she began to get fidgety and she suddenly wanted to go after them. Her voice came out squeaky and words came faster than her brain could process them, "That's them! They took him!" she started toward them but Daryl grabbed her arm before she got far. She looked back at him with a look of anger but he wasn't even looking her direction. He had his eyes looked on the two men they had a run in with back in the alley. Guillermo stopped the two of them from going any further and Rose returned her attention to him.

"This true?" said Guillermo, "He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick said.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me."

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides."

"Who's that dude to you anyway?" he gestured to Daryl, "You don't look related. None of you do."

"We're all part of one group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like us."

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl asked. Rose turned back to him, looking at his eyes. They were staring straight at Guillermo, seemingly blank, but she saw something there. She didn't blame him; Merle was his brother, the only family he had left. He still had a grip on her arm but she didn't struggle. She had this deep feeling that she and him had some sort of connection and she knew he wouldn't hurt her. He just wanted to find his brother and here was as good as anywhere to start.

"Sorry, fresh out of white boys." Said Guillermo, "But I've got Asian. You interested?"

Rose took a step forward but she couldn't get far with Daryl's grip on her arm that he tightened when she moved. So they had Glenn. He was in that building and she was going to get him out if it was the last thing she did.

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine. Sounds like an even trade." Said Rick.

"Don't sound even to me."

"What?" Rose whispered in awe. She looked at Daryl but his expression hadn't changed.

"My people go attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?" Guillermo explained.

"Guns?" Rick gave him a look.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken."

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours. It's my bag of guns."

"The bag was in the streets. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word?"

"Damn straight." Rose said.

Guillermo looked at her, "Nobody asked you."

"Rose." Rick warned, but she ignored him.

"Don't matter; I'm here, aren't I?"

Guillermo simply glared at her and she returned the favor. She was about sick and tired of hearing his voice and standing out here knowing Glenn was in that building somewhere. She was about ready to get loose of Daryl's grip and make a break for it, but she didn't move. She didn't like it, but she tensed her muscles and bit her tongue. She wanted to find Glenn and she didn't want to screw up what might be their only chance to do that.

"What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"

"You could do that." Said Rick, turning to look at where T-Dog was positioned with a gun aimed at Guillermo's head, "Or not."

Guillermo followed his gaze but all he did was chuckle, calling out over his shoulder, "Oye."

Everyone looked to the top of the building and Rose's eyes grew wide when two men brought Glenn to the edge of the roof with a burlap sack over his head with his hands tied behind his back. They yanked the sack off his head and the look on Glenn's face was one of terror. Rose felt as if her heart was literally being ripped in two. Her immediate reaction was to cry and her hands went to her face, ready to hide her tears. She wanted to cry and beg and plead for them to let him go and turned to face Guillermo, prepared to do just that, but the smirk on his face caused anger to boil up inside of her. She couldn't take it anymore; that was the last straw. She started after Guillermo like a bull coming at red cloth. The sound of guns being aimed at different parties reached her ears but didn't change a thing. Guillermo had pissed her off. Daryl slid his arm around her waist and she struggled against him. After a moment or two she realized that he was a lot stronger than her and calmed down to heavy breaths through her nose. This was not over.

"I see two options." Said Guillermo calmly, "You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side of spills more blood."

"It's not your goddamn bag of guns, damn it!" Rose said through gritted teeth. This was ridiculous. She looked at the boy that they had "taken hostage" and she was sure she wasn't the only one who could tell he was hurt. She looked to Felipe and he seemed torn inside, "Isn't this your _primonito_, for Christ's sake? It's the end of the fucking world and you're going to give up _tu familia_for a bag of goddamn guns just 'cause _Senor _here said so? You son of a bitch." She stared them down, pulling so much Daryl pretty much had to hug her to his stomach. Felipe lowered his gun slightly, looked at Guillermo, but nobody said anything. Guillermo looked her up and down with a smirk and glanced at T-Dog once before walking back into the building and closing the door behind them. When Rose looked to the roof Glenn was gone.


	13. Saving History

**I own nothing!**

"Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table." Daryl paced in front of Rick as he sorted through the bag of weapons sitting on the table in between himself and Daryl, "You willing to give that up for that kid?"

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree. But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T-Dog said.

"You calling G a liar?" Miguel accused.

"Are you a part of this? You wanna hold onto your teeth?" Daryl slapped him on the side of his head.

"Oh, Daryl, stop it!" Rose pulled him back by his arm. He swung his arm back, pushing her away, ready to start an argument. But when he looked at her eyes he couldn't bring himself to do it. She was so angry she was shaking. But at the same time it seemed like she was going to break down at any second. He wondered if anybody else saw the battles she was fighting inside her head. He couldn't possibly be the only one seeing it. He saw so much of himself in her, his younger self. The one that was trying so hard to be strong but wanting so much just to break. It was all he could do to stand there and watch her, but he tried to ignore it. Eventually someone would help her and keep her sane. He would not get close to any of these people. The people that chained his only family left to the roof of a building and left him there to die and was now missing. These people didn't care about him or wanted him there, he was sure of it, especially this stupid girl. She looked as if she wanted to throw him out there on a street full of walkers and leave.

It was silent a moment and the air was tense as they stood there staring at each other. One thing Daryl did notice was that she looked him straight in the eye and didn't waver at all. Not many would do that even before the world ended. But T-Dog spoke, slicing the air like a knife through warm butter.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?"

"No, question is," Daryl held eye contact with Rose for a few more seconds before tearing his eyes away, "What are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?"

"What life Rose or I have we owe to him." Said Rick, "We were nobodies to Glenn, just a couple of idiots stuck in a tank. He could've walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

"And neither will I." Daryl turned to Rose when she spoke and looked her up and down. She was determined and she would not leave this city without Glenn.

Daryl turned back to Rick, "So you're gonna hand the guns over?"

Rick looked at him, "I didn't say that. There's nothing keeping you here. You should get out, head back to camp."

"And tell your family what?" T-Dog said. They all shared a knowing look and reached for a gun, including Rose, but Daryl stepped in front of her. She called out in protest.

"I don't think so." He said.

"Why not?"

"Do you even know how to shoot? Have you ever shot before?"

She simply glared at him, but he stared right back at her.

"I have to agree with Daryl on this one, Rosie." Rick said. Rose tried to argue but couldn't find words in her favor. Daryl looked at her and grabbed one of the rifles when Miguel stood up, but Daryl simply pointed to the chair and he sat back down.

"Just do like G says." He tried to persuade them, but the boys ignored him, loading multiple guns. When they finished, they tied Miguel's hands behind his back and a bandana over his mouth. Daryl kept a gun pointed at his back the whole way back to Guillermo's hide out. The door creaked open and Daryl pushed the boy inside. Rick and T-Dog followed but Daryl let Rose go in front of him. She eyes him but said nothing, returning her attention to the men that surrounded them. Guillermo approached them.

"I see my guns but they're not all in the bag." He said, eying the bag over Rick's shoulder.

"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that last time." Rose said. She felt awkward with nothing but her backpack over her shoulders, but she stood her ground. She was not weak and she was still out to prove that, weapon or no weapon. She didn't need it, she was a survivor. After all this, she wouldn't give up now.

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. All right?" the man who tried to strangle her stepped up and she sucked in a breath, but she said nothing.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation." Guillermo told Rick.

"No, I'm pretty clear." Rick pulled a knife out and cut the rope holding Miguel's hands together, pushing him towards his survival group, "You have your man. I want mine."

Guillermo was silent a moment. The next words that came out of his mouth were as if a walker was going right at Rose's heart.

"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale." He paused and nobody moved. Rose was unsure what to think. Surely he was joking. Or maybe she was just telling herself that to keep herself from getting any angrier and ruining their plan. You couldn't be too careful these days.

"I told you how it has to be." He continued, "Are you woefully deaf?"

"No, my hearings fine." Rick took a step closer to him, "You said come locked and loaded. Okay then, we're here."

Everyone in the immediate area cocked their guns and Rose suddenly felt awkward standing there with no weapon but she tried not to show it, staring Guillermo down. They were so close to getting Glenn back there was no way she was gonna stand down now. She'd lost control before and she was beating herself up about it now but she felt she knew she could do this. Nonetheless, she took a step to stand behind Daryl. She wasn't stupid, there were a lot of guns pointed at them and her standing there defenseless out in the open was simply careless. Daryl didn't even seem to notice save for shuffling over so she was more behind him. Rick and Guillermo were staring each other down and it was as if two gangs were ready to go at each other's throats. But a small old lady's voice broke through the silence, calling out to Felipe, the man who had Rose by the neck in the alley. His eyes flickered to the old lady whom Rose was now blatantly staring at.

"Abuela," he said, "go back with the others—now."

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" said Daryl.

"Abuela, listen to your m'hijo, okay?" Guillermo said to the old lady, "This is not the place for you right now."

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing." She continued on, ignoring the two boys, "He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

Guillermo looked at Rick and it seemed as if he was torn. Rick lowered his weapon.

"Felipe go take care of it, okay?" Guillermo ordered, "And take your grandmother with you."

"Abuela, ven conmigo por favor." Felipe tried to guide his grandmother in the other direction but she had already noticed the Rick, T-Dog, Rose, and Daryl, their weapons still raised. She approached Rick, ignoring her grandson's pleas.

"Who are these men? And the girl?" she asked, "Don't you take him. Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson." Rick said, lowering his gun.

"Then what do you want him for?" She looked at Rose peeking out from behind Daryl and took a step towards her as Rick answered.

"He's," he paused, "helping us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn."

She turned to him, "The Asian boy?"

"You've seen him?" Rose stepped out next to Daryl who didn't take his aim off the man who he'd shot in the ass earlier in the alley.

"He's with Mr. Gilbert." she said to Rose, "He is nice boy."

"Please, ma'am. May we see him?" Rose pleaded, "I just want to see him alive."

"He's with Mr. Gilbert. I take you to him." She took Rose's tiny hand in her own and led her through the crowd of people and guns, back the direction she'd come from. Guillermo let them pass and the boys followed them down a back alley and into a somewhat nice looking building. They passed several rooms and Rose didn't really have a lot of time to look around from being dragged by the old lady but she could see that all the windows had been boarded up. Most of the furniture was still really nice, a lot nicer than what they had seen in the past. They down one of the main hallways with several rooms on each side that reminded Rose of a small hospital. A nursing home, maybe. Rick took off his hat and Rose stopped when the old lady let go of her hand, not seeming to notice she'd stopped following her, the rest of the group on her heels. Rose stared after them for a moment before peeking into one of the rooms. An old man sat on the bed in a robe and a younger woman was sitting in a chair reading to him a few feet from the bed. An old magazine perhaps. There wasn't a lot of space in the room and the window was covered by several two-by-fours, only letting in small bits of light. The lady smiled at her and Rose was taken off guard, but smiled back nonetheless. The lady continued reading and Rose turned and leaned on the wall just outside the doorframe. The fact that that lady still had a twinkle in her eye when she smiled in these dark times really hit a soft spot in Rose. Yeah, she was one to always keep upbeat and keep people as happy as she could but she was unsure if she still had that happy, giddy twinkle in her hazel eyes. That's when she wondered how long it had been since she last looked in a mirror. Looks weren't much of a concern for her, but now she was curious. Was she still the happy-go-lucky girl that everyone knew back home? Her old high school friends? Hell, even the few college kids she'd known in her short time on campus? Then it hit her that they were probably all dead. Every single one of them. She slid down to the floor with her knees at her chest. She took a few deep breaths and tried to return to the task at hand. She tried to force her friends and family back in her mind and focus. Glenn was here; probably up ahead with Rick and the others. She took a steady breath and stood, dusting herself off when she heard her name. She stopped and looked up with a smile on her face. She knew that voice.

"Glenn!" she ran down the hall into his open arms, a matching smile played on his lips. They stayed like that for a bit, Glenn's eyes closed as he breathed a sigh of relief that she was still alive.

"I was afraid I might never see you again." Rose confessed, taking a step back with her hands resting around his waist. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He had a relaxed grip on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye, "Are you okay? You're not bit?"

"No, just a few cuts and bruises." She smiled at him.

They met up with Rick and Guillermo and the others in one of the spare rooms off a large open cafeteria type space where sever elderly looking people were gathered around groups of tables. None of them looked as if they had been infected, sick maybe, but not infected. Rose stayed close to Glenn looking around at all of the people gathered around as he led her behind T-Dog. Once they were all settled in Rick began to ask Guillermo a series of questions but Rose wasn't paying much attention. Her focus was on all the people in large room she was staring at through the doorway. These people were surviving right here in the city and she was so scared for them, thinking of all the walkers that she and Rick had encountered their first day in Atlanta and then the ones earlier today. There was no telling if or when those things would come wandering into this place and all these people would die. All the elderly with their wisdom and vast knowledge of the past, who knows what kind of things they knew. Sure, you might be able to find it in a history book or two, but they were actually there. They could tell you more than any couple of pages worth of reading ever could. And coming from her was definitely saying something. Rose was an avid reader but the thought of all that knowledge, these people's history, their memories and hopes and dreams no matter how small or unattainable due to age or sickness was now gone forever. It made her sick to her stomach and she took a deep breath. She noticed that things had gotten quiet and she turned around. Everyone looked awfully serious about something she had missed and finally Rick spoke.

"Because they can."


	14. Surprise, surprise

Rose wasn't sure what went down while she was off worrying about the elderly but after handing over a few of the guns they'd retrieved she, Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl headed back for the van, taking back alleyways to avoid as many walkers as possible. They were keeping a fast pace and Rose almost had to run to keep up.

"Admit it," Glenn said, "You only came back to Atlanta for the hat."

"Don't tell anybody." He replied.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl pointed out.

"Not nearly half."

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us, Daryl?" Rose said from Glenn's side, "If there's anybody to protect it should be them. They're the ones that can remember the most about life before all…this."

Daryl looked at her but she didn't return the favor. She actually ran right into Rick's back when they all stopped. She looked up to an empty spot where their van should have been.

"Oh my God." She whispered.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl said.

"We left it right here. Who would take it?"

Something hit Rose right as Glenn finished speaking. Not taking her eyes away from where they'd left the van one name escaped her lips and they all knew she was right.

"Merle."

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl said.

They all knew Rose was right. She and Daryl both. They didn't have any evidence what so ever, but they could all feel it in their gut. Rose sighed out of frustration and threw her hands in the air walking in a small circle.

"Now what?" she said.

"Unless we find another vehicle we'll have to travel by foot." Rick replied as they walked towards camp. If they found means of transportation then they were going to use it but they made it out of the city without so much as a trace of any working vehicle and it was getting dark so they sped up their pace. Nobody wanted to be out after the sun went down. It was so much harder to protect yourself and the ones around you and, at least as far as Rose was concerned, it was so much scarier it wasn't even worth it. But it was well after dark when they finally got anywhere near camp at a jogging pace. Rose thought she'd never be happy to see those tents and small fires again but a small smile found its way to her lips the moment the sight reached her eyes, but the sound that reached her ears whipped the smile away so fast it made her dizzy.

The first gun shot went off and Rose stopped dead in her tracks, looking towards the camp in awe. There was no way this was happening right now, it had to be a cruel joke. At the second shot they sprinted up the hill so fast Rose thought her calf muscles would burn to a crisp. Her mind was so frantic she wasn't even sure she was thinking anything at all and even if she was the scene that crept into her field of vision killed any train of thought that was there, replacing it with the worst memories and nightmares she'd ever encountered and all she could think was '_Please, not again. Anything but this again.' _

She was frozen, her muscles unmoving as the walkers that had completely overtaken the camp attacked and feasted on half the members of the family she'd come to know and love. Everyone seemed to have given up trying to not make noise from the gunshots that could be heard for miles around, she was sure of it. She could feel her whole body shake trying to force herself to move, to help. She tried to reach for some kind of weapon that she could start taking out walkers with but so many thoughts were racing through her head they seemed to have jammed the signal for her to attack. She had nothing on her since Rick and Daryl wouldn't let her have a gun. She was a sitting duck. She looked around for a large stick that might possibly be of use but tunnel vision had kicked in and her knees gave in, dragging no luck. The only thing she could hear was her quickened heart beat pounding in her ear, drowning out everything that was going on around her. There was a loud _bang _close by and something wet splattered the right side of her body. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing and praying that it would all just be over. All of this would just end and she would be back in the room she shared with her sister or back in her dorm room or, hell, even just the tent she shared with Andrea and Amy would be better than this. She opened her eyes again and everything seemed to go back to normal. Well, physically normal. Her vision had returned and the pounding heartbeats in her ears had gone away. She looked around and delayed fear suddenly gripped at every nerve in her body and tears streamed down her face. She could hear Rick call out to Carl as she scanned the camp. Dead walkers were scattered among the bodies of the people she'd met at camp. She wanted to call out to someone, anyone. Rick, Glenn, Amy, even Daryl but she knew her voice would work. She knew that from experience. She instead concentrated on taking deep breaths through her mouth, trying to look away from the sight that brought back horrible memories, things she did not want to remember at that point in time. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her heartbeat but she heard a noise that was all too familiar and opened her eyes again. A walker next to her began to move again and she immediately started scooting back away from it. She opened her mouth to scream, hoping her voice box had returned to working order but an arrow in the walkers head stopped her. She looked up and saw Daryl standing over her.

"Are you okay?" he looked a little uncomfortable asking, looking away at other things besides her.

She tried to slow her breathing with no luck but managed a nod.

"Are you bit?"

She shook her head when Glenn came running towards her, landing on his knees in the mud next to her. She tried to say his name but her voice still had not returned so she simply reached for him instead, holding onto his like a lifeline. He bombarded her with questions, not even giving her time to answer them before moving onto the next one.

"I'm fine." She finally choked out, "Are you okay?"

He sighed a sigh of relief, "Yes, I'm fine."

They both smiled and tears returned to Rose's eyes as she hugged him, watching Daryl's retreating figure from Glenn's comforting embrace.


	15. Secrets Don't Keep Friends

**So the other night I posted that last chapter and I honestly don't remember it..hahaa, I was so tired. But anyway, here's be-ith another chapter for y'all. For those of you who celebrate it, hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving!(: **

The next morning Rose woke in a tent alone and turned onto her back staring at the sky through the mesh that made the ceiling of her makeshift home. She took a deep breath as the memories of last night came flooding back to her. She remembered the stolen van and having to come back to camp on foot and all the walkers that had invaded the camp, but she cringed when she remembered that she had pretty much almost had a complete breakdown in front of their whole party. She felt so stupid, how could she do that to everyone? See a few walkers and fall to pieces after all that work to prove she was worth something back in the city and she killed it within three minutes. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands and stood up, unzipping the tent and crawling out. The smell of burning and rotting flesh slammed her in the face so hard she almost fell back, covering her nose with her arm. She couldn't really see anybody so she hiked up the hill till she found everyone taking care of the mass murder, if you could call it that, which went down the night before. She spotted Glenn a ways away and remembered him taking care of her last night before she fell asleep. She approached him and he gave her the most genuine smile he could under the circumstances.

"Hi, Rose." He said.

"Hey, Glenn." She started, "Listen, I'm really sorry about last night."

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for the breakdown. You didn't have to do what you did, and I just wanted to thank you and apologize."

"Rose, there's no need for that. Large attacks like that are hard. I'm surprised I kept my cool as long as I did. I understand."

"Well, yeah, it's just," she bit her lip and sighed and Glenn waited patiently for her to speak, but she decided against it. It was too soon to speak about that. "Just thank you. And I'm still sorry."

"Don't worry about it." His look suddenly changed and he seemed to be looked behind her. She looked at him then turned around to follow his gaze. Morales and Daryl were moving bodies, dragging them on the ground and Glenn walked past her, heading straight for them.

"What are you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there." He said. That's when Rose noticed all the work they had done while she was asleep. They had fires and separate piles and lines of bodies all over the camp; they all had their heads bashed in. She forced the sick feeling away and turned back to the three men, but not before seeing Andrea in the dirt next to Amy, who was dead. It took her a moment to gather her composure again and jog over to the three men.

"What's the difference?" said Daryl, "They're all infected."

"Our people go in that row over there. We don't burn them!" Glenn's voice rose with anger and he seemed to get a little choked up. Rose put a hand on his shoulder and he took a few deep breaths, speaking more calmly, "We bury them. Understand?"

The two men looked at him in silence and Glenn repeated himself until they finally picked up the body they had been carrying and began to drag him away in the opposite direction from them. Rose didn't recognize the man but she also hadn't been there quite that long before all this happened. She watched Daryl and Morales for a moment but had to look away. She held Glenn's arm lightly and looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He watched them for a second before looking away towards the lake. He didn't seem to mind Rose's touch. He was actually thankful for the human contact, that way he knew not everything was dead.

"You reap what you sew." Daryl called when they dropped the body with some of the others.

"You know what? Shut up, man." Morales gave him a look.

"Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this comin'."

Rose watched him with a look of sympathy. At least she knew her sister was dead, he had no idea where his brother was let alone if he was dead or alive. She sighed and leaned her head on Glenn's shoulder when Jacqui's voice called out something Rose never, ever wanted to hear.

"A walker bit Jim."

Rose could feel her eyes grow big as she turned to where Jacqui and Jim had been talking. Jacqui had risen to her feet and was backing away from the now infected Jim and everyone was beginning to gather around them. Rose wasn't sure what to do but she approached the growing crowd and Glenn followed her, his hand resting in the small of her back.

"Show it to us." Daryl said. But instead of doing what was asked of him Jim grabbed a nearby shovel and started turning circles. Everyone backed away so as not to get hit by it and started begging him to calm down and just let them see the wound. Rose kept quiet, watching the scene unfold. Everyone's pleas didn't faze Jim in the slightest, he simply kept swinging the shovel around and Rose wondered if he really meant to hit someone.

T-Dog finally came up behind him and locked his arms behind his back. Rose flinched when Jim yelled out in protest, claiming that he was okay but when Daryl lifted his shirt they all knew he wasn't. Rose sucked in a breath when she saw it. Whichever walker bit him didn't take any flesh really but it was clear as day that it was human teeth that had punctured the skin on his stomach. It wouldn't take long for the fever to set in. T-Dog let him go and they all just stood there staring in awe. There wasn't anything they could do for him. Not a damn thing.

* * *

><p>Rose took small strides towards the tent that she shared with Andrea and Amy. Well, now it was just Andrea. She stopped at the entryway and took a deep breath. She couldn't believe it that Amy was dead. Even if they hadn't been too terribly close they had shared a tent. Rose felt for Andrea, having knowing exactly what she was going through from first-hand experience, but she still didn't know what to do, say or how to act. She wanted to comfort her but every time someone went near her she ignored them. She just sat there staring at her dead sister's body. Rose looked down at the grass around her feet, feeling the ache of emotion and physical labor spread throughout her entire body. She remembered feeling like this once or twice before, before the virus hit. But back then she had her sister there to talk to and give her advice. 'We can figure this out together,' she would always say. Rose chuckled a little, remembering her sister's very optimistic way of thinking. She sighed and wondered how her sister would've looked at the situation they had found themselves in. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and darted into the tent and closed the door so nobody could see her.<p>

She could feel herself breaking, straight up. If she didn't admit it to anyone else she had to admit it to herself. Reality setting in, her mother and father, her sister, hell, even her and her sister's dogs were gone. Dead. They weren't coming back, ever. She wouldn't, didn't blame herself, none of that melodramatic crap. There was nothing she could do and she knew that, she'd had enough time to accept that at least. She covered her mouth as a sob escaped her lips and she held onto her ribcage, shaking her head so her red ponytail whipped her in the face. She sucked in a deep breath and held it there, releasing it slowly. She had to calm down or she wasn't going to get anything done. Last night was bad; she should've been stronger, no matter what Glenn says. These people have enough to worry about without having to take care of her.

She shook her head one last time and whipped her eyes dry, getting to her feet. She took a deep breath and turned to leave the tent when something hard tapped the side of her foot. She looked down and couldn't see anything. She made a face and squatted down and felt around the floor till she wrapped her fingers around some sort of small round object in her pillowcase, then she remembered. It was the grenade she took from the army walker in the tank. She sucked in a breath and frantically pulled it out of the cloth and looked around. She spotted her backpack in the corner and crawled over to it, unzipping the front pocket and stuffing the weapon inside, closing it fast. That's when she heard Daryl yelling and she stepped outside the tent, taking one more look at her backpack before walking up the hill to where the boys were. She topped the hill just as Daryl had an axe raised over his head, headed right for Jim sitting on the back of the RV. Rose's eyes went wide and she could feel herself screaming for him to stop as she ran at him. Shane grabbed her arm and Daryl stopped, he looked back at her and Shane and something clicked in his eyes.

"Get off her." He said.

"What?" Shane looked at him and Rose looked just as confused. Angry, but still confused.

"Get your hands off her, you're going to hurt her." He walked towards her and Shane let go of Rose's arm. Daryl stopped and looked Shane in the eye, stealing glances at a very conflicted Rose before slamming his weapon into the ground and storming off. Shane shook his head and started leading Rose away from the scene, but she yanked away.

"Don't touch me." She growled. She never liked Shane and wasn't sure she ever would. She didn't know why, she didn't have a reason to, she just didn't. Back before all of this she would have given him a chance first and given him the benefit of the doubt but in this world, especially at that moment, she didn't give a rat's ass. She stomped off in the opposite direction Daryl had gone and passed Andrea and Amy on the way. She stopped and sighed. She wanted to say goodbye to Amy and she was running out of time. She knew that. She stood there a moment, watching the two sisters and trying not to cry about her own sister before taking a few very unconfident steps towards them.

"Andrea?" she said when she felt she was close enough for Andrea to hear at a soft volume. She didn't get an answer but continued speaking anyway, "Do you mind?"

She managed to get a shake of approval and sat on her knees. She didn't say anything and she didn't feel there was anything she really needed to say, save for her goodbye. There for a while she just sat there in silence, simply hoping that Andrea knew she was there if she needed someone to talk to. She knew Andrea knew about her sister. She didn't know details but that wasn't necessary, they had both officially lost a sister and that was all that mattered. Rose was about to say her goodbyes to Amy when she could have sworn she could hear her breathing. Rose grew really still as Andrea put her ear to Amy's mouth and sat back up. Rose watched Amy's arms as the twitched to life right before her very eyes and she sucked in a breath. Andrea continued to stroke her sister's face when Amy's eyes opened.

"Oh no." Rose fell back in the dirt, frozen still at the sight before her.

"Amy, I'm sorry." Andrea was saying.

"Andrea, what are you doing?" Rose looked between the two frantically and Amy looked right up at her sister, raising her arm so her fingers brushed Andrea's face.

"I'm sorry for not ever being there." Andrea continued, "I always thought there'd be more time."

Amy took hold of Andrea's hair and sat up, Rose watching in awe. Was this really happening? What was she supposed to do? Should she call out for help? She probably should have, but instead she sat there in silence and watched Andrea hold her sister back but made no means to do anything else. She held her back just enough so she wouldn't get bit.

"I'm here now, Amy. I'm here. I love you."

And just like that, she shot her. Blood splattered everywhere, including Rose's face and body. She sat there wide-eyed and in shock while Andrea resumed stroking her sister's face. Rose simply sat there with her eyes wide and mouth hanging open. How could she do that? She was her sister and she just shot her, killed her, like it was nothing. Rose noticed she wasn't breathing and took a couple deep, shaky breaths.

"Rosie!" Rick and Shane came around and helped her up but as soon as she was on her feet she yanked away from them.

"Don't touch me!" she walked off towards the lake and Rick started after her but Shane stopped him, suggesting he just let her go.

Glenn approached them, a little out of breath, "What happened? Is everything alright?"

Rick and Shane looked back at Andrea and Amy and he seemed to get the point. He turned back to Rose's retreating figure and started towards her. He didn't try to catch up to her but waited till she got down to the lake and stopped a second. She looked out at the water before squatting down to splash some of it in her face to wash off the blood. Glenn took one step towards her and she whirled around to face him.

"I'm sorry," he started.

"No, no, you're fine." She whipped her face with her shirt and they stood there for a moment just looking out at the lake water, not saying a word. Rose took a deep breath and Glenn glanced at her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked.

She was quiet a moment and finally shook her head, "It's not important."

It was silent again and it stayed like that for a long while. Several things were running through Rose's mind and it was making her dizzy trying to sort it out. She didn't want to lie to Glenn and tell him that she was perfectly fine, because she wasn't and she knew he knew that. She was grateful that he was so patient with her. She wanted so much to spill her guts to him but she knew now wasn't the time. Not now when they were supposed to be thinking about what their next step was. She sighed and looked up at him. He wasn't looking at her and she returned her gaze to the lake as well. There was one thing that she wanted him to know.

"Glenn?" she started.

"Yeah?" he kept his eyes on the water.

She paused and he looked at her, watching her as her eyes flickered across the water, "I hope this doesn't sound too weird, cliché or crazy, but I consider you my best friend."

She waited a moment before turning to him and finding him looking her right in the eye. For a moment she thought maybe she should have kept her mouth shut but a crooked smile found its way to his lips.

"I consider you mine too."


	16. Dearly Departed

**Two in one night, LIKE A BOSS.**

**I own nothing.**

Glenn and Rose walked back from the lake in silence. There wasn't really much to say at that point. The fact that she had established any kind of real friendship made her feel a hundred times better. But when she returned to camp the crappy feeling she had started out with came back and her face fell. Daryl approached them and he looked as if he had some kind of purpose.

"It's time." Was the only thing he said before walking back the way he came towards his truck.

"Time? Time for what?" Rose looked at Glenn. He didn't look very thrilled.

"Time to bury the, uh, dead." He replied.

"Oh." Was all she could say as they walked with the rest of the camp up to the burial ground they'd chosen for the dead. Their dead; the one's that they knew and loved. But by the time they reached the top of the hill Daryl was already in an argument with Rick once again.

"There are no rules." Rick was saying.

"Well, that's a problem." Lori said, "We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do."

Everyone was silent, thinking of what Lori had just said. Rose sighed and started for one of the bodies in the back of Daryl's truck. She had to find something to occupy her mind, to get away from thinking about the past and what it used to be like. That wasn't ever going to return so the sooner she forgot it, the better.

* * *

><p>Once they took the time to gently lay everyone in the ground, Amy was the last one left. Andrea claimed she could do it herself and refused any help from anybody. Dale still tried and eventually she let him help a little in the end. Once she was actually in the ground Rose couldn't take it anymore and she slipped off back to camp, biting her nails. She looked around and spotted some dishes that needed washing and got to work. Eventually everyone else returned and got to work on chores around camp themselves and by the time evening rolled around the entire camp was as clean as could be and people were running out of things to do.<p>

As the sky darkened and the temperature dropped, everybody ended up around the camp fire to keep warm while Rick and Shane did their usual sweep around the perimeter of the camp. Andrea dozed in one of the chairs and Lori was making a point at the end of a stick. Rose sat down in another one of the chairs when she finished up in the RV and Glenn leaned on the back of her seat. They all looked up, exhausted when Shane, Rick, and Dale returned.

"I've uh—I've been thinkin' about Rick's plan to go to the CDC." Shane started, "Now, look, there are no—there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the mornin'. Okay?"

They lingered for a bit more but not long after Andrea slinked off to bed Rose was starting to fall asleep in her chair. She stood with a 'good night' and stretched. Rick, T-Dog, Dale, Lori, most everyone bid her good night, even Daryl, but Glenn stood with the intention to walk her to her tent then make his way to his own. They walked with little chatter and Rose yawned when they reached her tent.

"If you need anything, my tent's right there." Glenn pointed to one of the tents a short ways away. She nodded and smiled, wishing him a good night and slipping into her tent. She was pretty much asleep before she hit the pillow.

* * *

><p>"Everybody listen up. Those of you with CBs, we're gonna be on channel forty. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"<p>

The group got up early the next morning and packed a few cars not much caring if people knew they had been there. Shane finished explaining and Rose stood up on the stairs she was sitting on that led into the RV. She turned to board the vehicle when Morales spoke.

"We're, uh—we're not going." He said.

"What?" the whisper left her lips before Rose could stop it. She took a step down off the stairs next to Glenn.

"We have family in Birmingham." Morales's wife answered, "We want to be with our people."

"You go on your own you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane argued.

"Well take the chance." Said Morales, "I gotta do what's best for my family."

"You sure?" Rick said.

"We talked about it. We're sure."

Rick nodded and he and Shane gave him a gun and a box of bullets before they all said their goodbyes. Rose laid her head on Glenn's arm and didn't say anything. She hadn't known any of them very well, save for maybe Morales, who came over and hugged her, but it was still upsetting to see them go.

"Channel forty if you change your minds." Rick reminded them as they boarded their own vehicle and headed out. Rose jogged up the stair into the RV, Glenn and Dale on her heels. Jacqui was already in the back with Jim, watching over him. Rose took a seat at the table as the RV pulled onto the road, leading the caravan. Glenn was in the front passenger seat with the map giving Dale directions as needed.

The ride was pretty much silent, with Glenn's directions every now and then, and it made Rose wish she had her iPod with her. Music was always her escape, listening to it pretty much 24/7 while she was on campus. She really wished she had it when the little bumps in the road started to really cause Jim some pain. His moans could be heard every so often but when he began to cry out Rose started to get fidgety, knowing there wasn't anything she could do. She simply sat there hoping and praying that the trip would go faster. She contemplated going to sleep and even propped her feet up and leaned her head on the window but she jumped when the RV came to a sudden halt. She sat up and looked out the windshield to see smoke rising from the engine. Dale was muttering under his breath.

"What happened?" Rose asked, following Dale into the road behind Glenn and it didn't take long for the rest of the group to join them.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose." Dale told Rick when they'd had a look at the engine, "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

Rose made a face when he mentioned the cube van.

"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape."

"I see something' up ahead." Shane said, looking through a pair of binoculars, "A gas station if we're lucky."

They were getting ready to get a plan in order when Jacqui came running out of the RV, "Y'all, Jim—it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

She disappeared back into the vehicle and Shane called to Rick, "Hey, Rick, you wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead; see what I can bring back."

"Yeah, I'll come along too and I'll back you up." T-Dog offered.

"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back."

Rose watched Shane and T-Dog jump in Shane's jeep and drive off and she turned back to see Rick boarding the RV. She got the sick feeling in her stomach when she felt something bad was about to happen and sat down on the stairs, laying her head on her knees. She was worried about Jim, that was for sure and part of her really thought that there might be a cure at the CDC that would make him better. But another part of her told her that there was no hope and we just needed to put him out of his misery. But she would never admit that. Maybe to Glenn, but that was too much, not when everybody was on edge already. She felt so bad for what had happened, nobody deserved this. It was cruel and painful and downright awful.

It didn't take Shane and T-Dog long to return with the necessary tools and fuel to repair the RV and they immediately got to work as soon as they got there. Rose watched them till Rick stood behind her on the stairs. She looked up at him with hope, but her face fell when her eyes met his and she just knew the news was bad. She scooted over and Rick placed a gentle hand on her head as he walked by her, the group gathering around to hear his prognosis.

Rose felt mixed emotions listening to Rick who said that Jim had told him that he wanted them to leave him here. She could understand his logic, he knew he was going to die and there was nothing anybody could do. But at the same time the thought of giving up just made her so upset. They just had to keep going, to move on, and to live until this was all over. Of course, she also wasn't the one who got bit. She wasn't entirely sure what she would tell them to do with her if she was ever put in that situation, partly because she didn't want to think about, partly because she was determined not to let it happen so there was no reason to think about it. But this, this was hard.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick was saying.

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked.

"He seems to be. I would say yes."

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood." Dale explained, "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer."

"What, so we just leave him here? Leave him here and just take off?" Rose looked up at Rick. She understood it was Jim's wishes and there was little hope for him but simply leaving him here in the open seemed rather harsh, even for this world.

"I'm with Rose on this one. I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane said.

"It's not your call." Lori sounded somewhat sympathetic to Rose but it was as if her voice turned to ice when she spoke to Shane, "It's not yours either."

Rose made a face and decided it was best to bite her tongue for a while. But it wasn't long before they decided that Lori and Dale were right and Rose moved so Rick and Shane could carry Jim out of the RV and up a slight incline, setting him under one of the shadier trees as gently as they could. They tried to be as careful as possible but shoot, even that small trip seemed to be hard on him. They rest of the group followed them up there and they all stood around to say their goodbyes.

"Hey, another damn tree." Jim said. He tried to laugh but it seemed to hurt him too much.

Rose stood next to Glenn who had removed his hat out of respect and they watched with heavy hearts as Jacqui tried to say her goodbyes. It was as if it was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do in her entire life. Rose hugged Glenn's waist and he put a hand on her back. Jacqui kissed Jim's cheek and walked back to the RV with silent tears streaming down her face. Rose watched her go for a moment, afraid to return to the devastating sight behind her. When she did it was so much harder than the first time. It was as if within the few seconds that she had looked away Jim had gotten worse. Rick offered him a gun and he refused, telling him that he was okay, and Rose felt like it was Jim's way of telling him that it was okay to move on. Rose could feel the tears swell up in her eyes but she didn't let them fall until Dale approached him, kneeling beside him.

"Thanks for, uh—for fighting for us."

Rose couldn't take it anymore. She buried her face in Glenn's chest and he wrapped his arms around her, resting one hand on her head, stroking her hair and his other arm wrapped completely around her small torso. She didn't cry, no, she didn't want Jim to see that. But she just could look anymore. She took a deep breath and Glenn led her back to the RV as the group began to disperse and they all climbed into their respected vehicles. Jacqui took up residence in the front passenger seat and Glenn and Rose slid into the seat with the table where Rose had been sitting before. Glenn had an arm around Rose's shoulders and they watched Jim slowly disappear from their view, knowing they'd never see him again.


	17. The Bright Light of Safety

**I own nothing except for Rose.**

The ride was pretty much silent after that and with the lack of traffic it didn't take them long to reach the CDC in Atlanta. When the vehicle stopped Rose lifted her head from Glenn's shoulder and looked out the window. It had hit the CDC just as hard as anywhere else she'd seen, at least from the outside. Glenn sighed and stood, grabbing a gun and leading them out of the RV. Everyone else wasn't far behind and those with weapons had them ready to shoot to kill. Rose held her arm to her nose at the smell and looked around her. They were surrounded by bodies and it was impossible to tell whether or not they were walkers. She didn't like it in the slightest.

Glenn grabbed her arm and pulled her faster, making sure they kept up with the rest of the group and she simply concentrated on breathing through her mouth. The smell of dead, rotting flesh was so sickening it made her dizzy, but she kept moving, letting Glenn lead her through the maze of dead that lay on the concrete. But the closer they got to the building the more bodies there were, or so it felt like. Rose coughed, trying not to be sick from the smell and sight.

They reached the large doors that led into the CDC and Rick and Shane started pounding on the doors while everyone else with a gun tried to keep watch. It was a lot harder when the hope of a safe haven was directly in front of them, but that hope drained from their systems when the doors didn't budge an inch with them banging on it. It didn't take long for an argument to break out and everyone started to panic.

"There's nobody here." T-Dog said.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick stated.

Rose watched the scene from behind Glenn with a dull ache in her heart at the realization that this wasn't going to work. What were they going to do now? They were running out of supplies and there was no telling how many of these things were actually still alive. But it was as if she thought too soon when Daryl's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Walkers!" he called. Rose whipped around and between that and the sickening smell her head started to spin and she stumbled. She held her ground but she could see Glenn and Daryl step in front of her as her vision stabled itself and the sound of gunshots reached her ears. What were they doing? They knew that sound would attract more walkers, were they stupid? She wanted to say something but she knew no one would hear her over the panic of the group and decided against it. If walkers knew they were there, there was nothing else they could do to prevent them from coming except wait it out and fight back.

"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl called over his shoulder.

"He made a call!" Dale spat.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Just shut up." Shane got in his face, "You hear me? Shut up! Rick, this is a dead end." He turned to his best friend.

"Where are we gonna go?" Rose said, looking around frantically.

"Do you hear me?" Shane was trying to get something out of Rick but he wasn't paying him any attention, "No blame."

"We can't be here, this close to the city after dark." Lori was holding onto Carl for dear life.

"Fort Benning, Rick—still an option."

"On what?" Andrea said, "No food, no fuel. That's a hundred miles."

"125. I checked the map." Glenn put in.

"125 miles?" Rose could feel her mind traveling in all different directions. Where were they going to go? What were they going to do? What was their plan now? Did they even have a plan B?

"Forget Fort Benning." Lori said, "We need answers tonight, now."

"We'll think of something." Rick finally said. He was trying to keep calm for the group but Rose could see him breaking. She couldn't blame him, they were so set on this that they hadn't counted on anything else and now they were stuck. Everyone was in full panic mode with no way out. But she jumped when something touched her arm and turned to see Glenn pulling her away.

"Let's go. Please." He was begging by that point and she wasn't sure if he was begging her or Rick or everyone in general. She looked at him with wide, confused eyes then back at Rick, letting Glenn drag her away. But they stopped when Rick called out.

"The camera—it moved." He shouted. Rose took Glenn's hand in hers, starring at the door.

"You imagined it." Dale said.

"It moved."

"Rick, it is dead, man." Shane tried to get through to him, "It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on."

A full blown argument had erupted amongst everyone and Rose didn't know what to do. She wanted to believe Rick so bad but she was scared. More than that, she was terrified, remembering the helicopter incident from when they had first met. Glenn kept pulling her towards the RV but her leg muscles had stopped working and she simply stared at the big silver doors that led into the building, her feet unmoving. Rick banged on the door and made her jump as he began to yell and scream at the door and soon everyone was yelling. Rose's eyes darted every which way at once and she finally gave in, letting Glenn drag her into his arms and start for the RV. She saw Daryl on one side of her and they made eye contact and she knew he saw the terrified look in her eye. He started after them but they all stopped when the door to the CDC slid open, all of them standing there in shock. A bright light blinding the group but everyone simply stood there, starring at their savior, wide eyed and terrified, but full of hope once again.

Hopefully it was here to stay.


	18. Safety Is Bliss

**I own nothing save for Rose.**

Rose stood there in shock, unable to move or blink or breath. The door actually opened. She was in such deep shock she didn't notice Glenn pulling her towards the door behind everyone else. Those who had weapons still had them at the ready and Rose didn't understand why. They were saved, the CDC opened and they weren't going to have to worry about anything else ever. They were calling out to anyone who would answer them with no reply and she could hear someone say to watch for walkers but she couldn't tell who it was, but she didn't care. The only thing she could think was that they were finally safe, why was everyone worrying so much?

They were standing in a large foyer with a huge emblem of the CDC on the wall straight ahead of them. It was silent for a moment, save for the moaning of the walkers from outside when someone cocked their gun and it wasn't any of them. Rose finally seemed to come out of shock and turned towards the noise, along with all of the guns amidst their group. All eyes were on the person in the shadows a ways away, gun pointed at the group. Nobody said a word.

"Anybody infected?" he asked.

"One of our group was." Rick replied, "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man moved into the light and Rose sucked in a breath, earning a look from him. He looked awful, as if he hadn't slept or eaten in days, or as if he'd been stressed for longer than was healthy. She took a step back and he turned back to Rick.

"I know." Rick said.

Everyone waited in silence for his answer as he scanned everyone's faces. One by one he looked over their wide-eyed, sheet-faced, terrified expressions. Rose was last and he stopped, starring her in the eye. Her breathing was rapid and she wasn't sure how much longer she could wait for him to answer. Those walkers were getting closer by the second and if he was going to kick them out he needed to do it now so they would have time to get back to the vehicles.

"You all submit to a blood test." He finally said, "That's the price of admission."

"We can do that." Rick answered.

The man lowered his gun and started towards them, "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

The men ran out and grabbed the bags and supplies they had left from the cars and brought them inside while the man who let them in hit a button on a nearby control panel on the wall, speaking while he did so, "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."

The doors sealed themselves shut with a clang once everyone was back inside and the man introduced himself as Edwin Jenner, leading them to a large elevator. They all crammed inside in what would once be called an awkward silence but now it would most definitely be called relieved. They were finally safe and Rose couldn't tell if she wanted to jump up and down with excitement or fall over with exhaustion. She settled with a big smile and leaning her head on Glenn's shoulder.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl said from Rose's other side.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Jenner looked at them all, "But you look harmless enough. Except you." He gestured to Carl with a slight smile, "I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Carl smiled and Rose chuckled while the group continued in silence once again. They stepped off the elevator when it stopped and the doors opened, following Jenner down a few hallways. Rose looked around, trying to get familiar with her new surroundings but there wasn't much to go by. All the walls looked the same as did the doors and rooms that she could see. Carol asked Jenner a question but she ignored it, trying to make sure she knew how to get out if they needed. Then she thought about it, why was she doing that? This was the CDC, they were safe. She didn't have to be in survival mode anymore. She couldn't remember being this happy, ever. But she was brought out of her thoughts when they entered a large, dark room with a ton of computer screens all over the walls and along several desks that stretched from one side of the room to the other.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner said and the room was suddenly lit up with bright, Florissant lighting.

"Whoa." Rose muttered, following the group to the center of the room.

"Welcome to zone five."

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked, "The other doctors, the staff."

"I'm it. It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Rose asked.

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them…welcome."

What was clearly a computerized voice came from speakers all around the room, "Hello, guests. Welcome."

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry."

They stood there in silence, staring at him with a sense of sudden shock. No one was sure what to say or do, so Jenner led them into another room to begin taking their blood for testing to make sure none of them had the virus. It looked like one of her college's lecture rooms to Rose. She looked around and sat down in between Glenn and Daryl who both sat in silence as did the rest of the group but she couldn't seem to sit still. She got seriously fidgety and her eyes darted all around the room. She secretly hated needles, but that was the last of her worries with all of those walkers outside, so she sucked it up when it was her turn to sit herself in the chair in front of Jenner. She was the last and she'd felt like they'd been sitting there forever but they probably only sat there for a good half hour. She held out her arm and looked away as Jenner got to work.

"What's the point?" Andrea said as he tied elastic around Rose's arm and rubbed alcohol where he would draw the blood, "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in her. Let me just at least be thorough." Jenner stuck the needle into Rose's arm and she winced, still looking away. He took a vile of blood and pulled the needle from her vein, putting a cotton ball over the spot so it wouldn't bleed, "All done."

She gave him a weak smile and stood, but almost as soon as she did she stopped again. She was seeing stars and little bit and felt a little nauseous. Glenn and Daryl stood to help her to her chair.

"Are you okay?" Jenner asked, watching the scene with mild interest.

"She hasn't eaten in days." Glenn answered for her.

"None of us have." Jacqui added.

Rose didn't much care about anything anybody was talking about at that point in time. She knew she was weak, but after having her blood drawn, she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. All she knew was Glenn and Daryl were leading her to a door instead of the chair she was just sitting in and after a few twists and turns down different hallways she looked up to see where they were or where they were going. Glenn was attached to her arm but what she couldn't help but notice was Daryl's constant watch over her. She honestly wasn't sure what to think of it, ever since that day when he tried to attack Jim and she stopped him. He was so intense and tough; this somewhat protective side of him was strange to her. And why her? She was nothing but mean to him ever since he the back alley back in Atlanta. She pushed the more complicated thoughts into the back of her mind for another time and concentrated on where they were going, or rather, where they were.

Dr. Jenner had led them to a large room with one large table in the middle, but that's not what brought the smile to Rose's face. What did though was when the doctor walked over to the cabinets and opened the doors to reveal a room full of food, enough to last them for weeks. They would finally eat a decent meal for the first time in days and all Rose could do was laugh. Smiles were all around the room as everyone rushed for the first thing they saw, mostly the women. But if there was one thing in this world that Rose didn't do, it was cook. So she followed the men to find the dishes and silverware so they would have something to eat off of and with as many people they had and the real cooking tools they now had, it didn't take long for a freshly cooked meal to be ready and on the table. Everyone gathered around and took large spoonful of food for their plates.

It was mostly silent as everyone ate, silent or mindless chatter around the room. But most sat there simply enjoying their food. Rose grabbed as much as she dared eat, afraid of making herself sick, and took a seat in between Glenn and Daryl, swinging her legs into Glenn's lap. When the entire party had finished eating for the most part a few bottles of wine were passed around the table. Rose took a glass but didn't pay it much attention. She was still under-age, if that even still existed, but she'd had a few drinks in her lifetime. She didn't much like it, though, so she mostly ignored it, letting the stem of the glass rest in between her forefinger and middle finger, simply listening to the conversation at hand. Lori was arguing that she didn't want Carl to have anything alcoholic whatsoever, holding her hand over his glass and butting heads with Dale, though they all had smiles on their faces. Whether it be from the wine or the food or simply the whole situation in general, Rose had no idea but she didn't care. It was nice to sit there without worrying she was going to die at any moment for once. She was simply taking it all in in a silent bliss.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale was saying, handing Lori another glass of the stuff, "And in France."

"Spain too." Rose held her glass in a toast-like fashion. Dale toasted her back with a nod and a smile.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, or Spain," she gestured to Rose with a smirk, "He can have some then."

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick looked at her with a cocky, slightly tipsy smile and Lori just looked at him and gave in with a chuckle. Everyone cheered him on as Carl took a sip of wine and made a face, claiming it was 'gross.' Everyone laughed and Lori patted his back like the proud parent she was.

"Just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said.

"You and me both, Carl." Rose winked at him.

"Yeah, well not you, Glenn."

Glenn and Rose looked at Daryl, confused by his statement.

"What?" Glenn smiled.

"Keep drinkin', little man. I wanna see how red your face can get."

Everyone laughed, including Glenn but Jacqui sat up and rested her elbows on the table, looking right at him and Rose with a sly smile.

"Look at you two, lookin' all cozy over there." She said.

They were still laughing when Rose replied, "What?"

"Yeah, you two have spent a good amount of time together since Little Miss Rosie arrived." Dale said with a wink in the red-head's direction. Rose wasn't sure how to respond but she was sure her face was growing as red as her strawberry-blonde hair.

"Eh, I guess she's alright." Glenn looked away from her and she punched him in the arm, causing the group to laugh even harder. He smiled at her though and she smiled back, looking around the room, taking in this moment. This moment of pure joy and worry-free minds, if only for the moment. These people, this family she'd found, she wondered what would happen to them once all of this was over. Once life returned to normal. Would they exchange numbers and "hang out" on the occasion? Swapping old stories of when the dead rose from their grave? Or would they simply go their separate ways as if all of this never happened? She hoped to whatever God there was it was the first. There was no way they could go through all this and not have a bond to last a lifetime. With a slight chuckle, she suddenly wished she had her camera. But that thought was quickly pushed away when Rick stood, raising his glass.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." He said.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog raised his glass as well and everyone followed suit, cheers erupted all around the room. But the excitement was quickly dubbed when Shane brought up a very tender subject, seizing the room in an eerie silence.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" he said, "All the—the other doctors, that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rose gave him an icy glare and he gave one right back at her, but she wasn't fazed.

"Rosie's right, Shane. We don't need to do this now." Rick said.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move—supposed to find all the answers." Shane argued, "Instead we—we found him." He pointed to Jenner.

"Shane!" Rose said in a harsh whisper. Now she was just pissing her off, and he was beginning to get really good at it.

"Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families." Jenner explained after a moment. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?"

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides." He paused, "That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave." Andrea said, "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Rose gave a soft sigh and laid her head on Glenn's shoulder, listening to the silence a moment till Glenn spoke.

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man." He said, looking right at Shane.

So much for this blissful moment.


	19. Rash Decisions

**Okay, I did a little research when it came to this chapter, but it wasn't originally planned so if I get something wrong or it's "impossible" or whatever, just ignore it, please. I'm doing the best I can with what I know.**

**Thank you!**

**PS-R.I.P. John Lennon. You are truly missed.**

They finished eating with little chatter, cleaning up their mess out of habit and Jenner mentioned something about it getting late. Rose wasn't sure; she wasn't paying a whole hell of a lot of attention to much of anything. She put her plate away and followed the group with her backpack slung over her shoulder. She stayed quiet, as did much of the rest of their party. All she could think about was what Jenner said.

_They…opted out._

Opted out? What did he mean by that? Well, she knew what he meant; they had killed themselves instead of facing the death outside these walls. But she just couldn't believe it. That was it? They just gave up? Maybe it was just because she put so much faith in this plan that the reality of what they'd found was breaking her down, but she was having a really hard time wrapping her mind around the situation.

She found herself in the front of the group behind Jenner and she finally looked at her surroundings. Still looked the same as everywhere else. She wasn't really sure how she was going to like this place but if it was safe and away from those things out there then she was pretty sure she would live. She took a deep breath and felt something tug on her hand. She jumped at first but when she looked down she found Sofia, Carol's daughter, grabbing hold of her own hand with a small smile. She was a pretty little girl with natural blonde hair and beautiful (blue?) eyes. She carried that doll that Morales's daughter had given to her the day they had gone their separate days. Rose suddenly wanted to know everything about her past, everything she'd ever gone through. She wanted to know the things she wanted to do and all her favorite books and movies and games. After everything Rose had seen, and she was sure that Sofia had seen as well, and hearing Jenner's story she suddenly wanted to preserve every last ounce of humanity this group had. Everyone's hopes and dreams, their passions and their worries. She gripped Sofia's hand and smiled down at her and the girl returned the favor. But something else occurred to her. What if all this never ended? What if Sofia, and even Carl grew up in this world of hiding from the dead. They would never have those experiences she had. They would not know middle school and high school, homecoming and football games, and prom. Hanging out with friends and first kisses. Of course, this also meant that she herself would never get the experience of college, at least not really. She'd finished one year when all this mess happened. It made her feel helpless, not knowing what the future held. If anybody would have asked her how she felt about it before all this, she would have said she didn't know and she didn't care. That was just the kind of person she was, living day by day and just wanting to live life to the fullest. But her mind stopped a second and she reevaluated her previous thought. That was the kind of person she _was_. That person was gone now. She sighed and Glenn nudged her side and winked at her when she looked up at him. She mustered the best smile she could, almost running into Jenner when he stopped walking.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots I storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Rose listened to Jenner with mild interest, simply wanted to just crash on a bed and never wake up again but something caught her attention and she looked right at Glenn, whose face lit up with excitement.

"Hot water?" he said with the biggest smile on his face.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog laughed and they all took off to the nearest rooms. Rose ran into a room and closed the door, leaning on the back and staring at the small bathroom and shower straight ahead. This was real; they were finally going to get a real shower. She set her bag down and pulled out the cleanest clothes she had and all but ran into the bathroom. She peeled off her cargo shorts and flannel shirt, tossing them aside. She seriously considered throwing them away, but figured there was probably a washer and dryer here somewhere and decided she would wash them later. Those were some of her favorite clothes. She took her hair down and shook her head, ignoring Jenner's orders and turning the water as hot as it would go, stepping into the running water. She stood there a moment and just laughed. It felt so good at just the thought of being clean and she couldn't wait to step out without the layer of dirt and mud, and the occasional blood, that she usually wore, but at the same time she never wanted to leave the comfort and warmth she was feeling in that moment.

She simply stood there for the longest, just taking it all in and letting the steaming water run down her body, cleansing her skin after weeks and weeks of being out in the open. She finally started in on her long, strawberry-blonde hair, dumping half the bottle of shampoo on her head and digging her fingers into her scalp before letting the conditioner sit while she scrubbed every inch of her body. When she finished she reluctantly shut off the water and stepped out, taking a deep breath, she'd never felt so clean in her entire life. She threw her hair in a towel and stepped into a clean pair of underwear and clasped her bra around her ribs. She rummaged around until she found a toothbrush and toothpaste, but when she whipped the steam from the mirror she stopped. There was no way that was the same person staring at her in the reflection. She'd never seen herself so thin, ever. And there were shadows under her hazel eyes, worse than when finals came around back at school. Now that all that dirt and grime was gone she could see that she'd cumulated enough freckles to almost completely cover her once pale skin. She was red all over and she couldn't tell if it was because of all the scrubbing she did or because of being out in the sun all day for so long. But she could definitely tell she'd gotten darker, as had her hair. It was almost completely red now. She shook her head and continued to brush her teeth, trying not to think about her appearance. She spent a good amount of time on her teeth and spit out a lot of blood when she rinsed. Probably from not brushing them in so long she guessed. She stepped into a pair of pumpkin orange soffe shorts and a grey baseball jersey with navy blue quarter length sleeves before taking her hair down, throwing it on the floor. Taking one last look in the mirror she walked out of the bathroom and immediately got a cold chill down her back. Rummaging through her backpack she found her hairbrush and took a seat on the cot, folding her legs in front of her, starting in on her hair which had most definitely grown out. It reached all the way down to her tailbone and she made a note to herself to ask Lori if she might cut it later.

She finished with her hair and she took another deep breath, slumping over with her hands in her lap. She wasn't staring at anything in particular but her backpack came into view and she pulled it towards her. She pulled out a small photo album and started flipping through it. All of her favorite pictures were in it, one of the few things she'd managed to prepare before all the chaos after watching the news casts. There were pictures of her family, her mom and dad and her sister and a few choice extended members as well as their dogs. Pictures from high school filled up a good majority of the book with a few at the end from her one year in college. She flipped through them and couldn't help but smile a little at one in particular. It was from the summer before her first year away at college with her best friends of all time. She remembered it well. They hadn't done much that day, just laying around her house and talking, eating some lunch and watching a few movies from Netflix. Somehow they'd all managed to end up on the carpeted floor with all their heads in a circle. Herself, her sister, Hunter, Tanisha, Grant, and Mary; they had all been inseparable throughout her and her sister's entire senior year and well into the summer and they kept in touch during the school year. Rose shook her head and continued on to a picture of herself and her sister, Lily; the twins and their twin dogs, Martha and Jane. She simply stared at it, not thinking about anything specific except for the day her sister had died and came back. It hadn't taken long for Lily, only thirty-five minutes. Rose dropped the book and covered her face with her hands. They were gone, all of them. Everyone she'd ever known was dead and even the government had given up. Why should she go on? There was no reason. She had no connections to any of this group, not really strong ones at least. She looked at the pictures with blurry vision from the tears that streamed down her face, thinking. She sat there for what felt like hours and finally came to a decision and, taking a deep breath, stood from the cot in search of something, anything to carry out her plan. She started with the bathroom cabinet and actually found luck on her first attempt. Pills of all kinds were stored away, and no one would know a thing. They were simple ones, but they would do. She sat back down on the bed, staring at the bottle for a moment or two, seriously thinking out how this would affect things and didn't see how it would ruin anything. The way she saw it that was one less person to feed and watch out for. She opened the bottle and poured a handful into her palm, staring at them. She closed her eyes, let the tears flow and threw her head back, letting the medication slide down her throat and swallowing the rest. That's when someone knocked on her door.

"Hello?" they said. Rose sucked in a breath and stood quickly, hiding the bottle behind her back, but she felt her heart drop when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Glenn." She tried to smile, wondering how long it would take for these pills to kick in.

"Hey, did you take a shower?" he asked. He seemed kind of nervous to her.

"Yeah," she chuckled, "You?"

"Yeah."

They were silent and Rose could feel the nervous sweat dripping down her back. She did not want Glenn to see this. Hell, she just wanted to get it over with, but what ended up happening happened so fast she couldn't comprehend it fast enough. Glenn stepped towards her and pulled her into a deep kiss, one she was sure that if she'd chosen to live she would never forget. He was so gentle yet so passionate; her mind was buzzing so much she almost forgot what she'd done. He pulled away and she looked right into his eyes. They were both smiling but she could already feel the effects of what she'd done. Her vision was already blurring and she could feel herself falling. It wasn't long before she blacked out.


	20. Personal Promises

**Guys, I'm not really sure what I think of this chapter. Honestly, I don't much like it, but it's whatever. You could say I've had a rough week. The next one will be better. Promise.**

**I only own Rose and her family.**

**PS-don't flame if I got something wrong medically, timeline, or location wise. 'cause that's just rude.**

**Kaythanks!**

"Rose? Rose, stay with me!" Glenn held tight to her as she fell, her eyes closing. He was so confused and didn't understand what was happening, his heart and mind racing, laced with a panic usually reserved for running from walkers. He was so unsure of what to do it was unreasonable. He didn't want to lose her, he couldn't. Not after everything they'd been through and there was too much he wanted to say to her. He felt as if he'd never wanted anything more than to know who she was, what made her tick and her hopes and dreams, who she was before the dead walked the streets. He sat there holding her for a bit, staring at her with a look of desperation that she couldn't see.

"Help! Somebody!" he called out the door, keeping his arms around her the whole time. He could feel his breath quicken with panic and he glanced from her face to the hallway probably a hundred times before anyone came, but he never expected it to be Daryl Dixon. He had a bottle of whiskey in his hand and he looked like he'd had quite a bit to drink but seemed focused nonetheless.

"What happened? What'd you do?" Daryl snapped, falling to his knees beside them.

"Nothing! I-I…" Glenn stuttered, unsure of what to say. He watched Daryl take her from his arms in a fireman carry and laid her on the cot as if it she was a pillow he'd dropped on the floor. Something fell out of her hand in the process and Glenn picked it up, his eyes going wide.

"Answer my question, damn it!" Daryl called over his shoulder and when Glenn didn't answer he turned to him, about ready to smack him upside the head, but he was just as stunned when he saw the pill bottle in his hand. They both knew what she'd done and they were shocked, even through Daryl's tough as nails composure anyone could see the shock in his eyes. He took the pills from Glenn, staring at them a moment nut it didn't take him long to snap back to reality, throwing the bottle on the ground and turning back to Rose who lie completely still on her cot. He positioned her head back and beckoned Glenn over in a harsh tone.

"Breath air into her mouth." He demanded.

"What?" Glenn was almost in hysterics and Daryl rolled his eyes.

"We have to pump her stomach of those pills or she's gonna die, now breath air into her lungs. Three deep breaths, now!"

Glenn did as he was told and when he lifted his head Daryl folded his hands on her sternum, pushing down several times before instructing Glenn to repeat the process. This was done a good four or so more times and both boys were completely silent the entire time, hoping and praying that the redhead would open her eyes again. Her lips were beginning to turn blue when her eyes shot open and she sucked in a huge breath, coughing up the drugs and trying to catch her breath. They didn't know how long she'd gone without air in her lungs and neither did she but all she knew was that she didn't think she'd ever felt so much pain in her life. Every breath felt as if she'd swallowed the sun on top of all the pills she'd taken coming up from her stomach. It was not a very pretty combitnation.

"Glenn, go get that trashcan!" Daryl instructed since Glenn seemed to be in a state of relieved shock. He did as he was told and returned quickly, letting Rose throw up the rest of the medicine in her system, both men hoping they'd gotten to her in time so most of it hadn't gotten into her bloodstream. She finally started breathing somewhat regularly but it still hurt like hell. She sounded as if she was wheezing from an asthma attack when she looked up at the two boys staring down at her, Glenn with a huge smile on his face and Daryl just gave her that look that she could never understand or describe. He didn't look angry, But God knew she was.

"What the hell did you do?" she yelled at them, still in a daze and unsure of what was happening. All she knew is this was not the afterlife, at least not the way she pictured it, and she was not happy about it.

She stared right into Daryl's eyes and tried to stand. He didn't look fazed by the anger in her partially glazed eyes, but when she tried to walk towards him she stumbled over, still dizzy from her close call with death. Daryl caught her and Glenn watched helplessly as she began to beat on his chest, calling out with sudden tears streaming down her face. Daryl didn't seem to notice, he just grabbed onto her wrists and she continued to try and throw a few more punches before simply crumbling at his feet, shanking from the pills and crying and God knows what else. Glenn couldn't believe what he was seeing, she always seemed so sure of everything and never in a million years thought she would give up. But there she was, falling apart right there in front of himself and Daryl. He could feel his heart breaking in two as he kneeled down to take over when Daryl let go of her wrists, holding her in his chest. Daryl kneeled down on her other side and rubbed his face with his hands. He wasn't really sure what to think. What he wanted to do was yell and scream at her, slap her in the face for being such an idiot; that was his usual tendency, what he was used to with his family, his brother, but he was starting to learn that was going to get him anywhere, especially with Rose. He sighed and leaned his head back. What had she done? How had she pulled out this seemingly soft side of himself that he hadn't seen since he was so very young? He couldn't understand it, and didn't think he ever would. She just had this thing about her where she saw the good in everybody and she radiated this positive energy that gave even him hope; even when she was scared and unsure it was like this force driving him to keep her alive. He remembered the first day they'd met back at the camp when Rick had told him that they'd locked his brother up on a roof in Atlanta. He was so angry then, but he also remembered the tears that threatened to spill over that nobody had noticed, except for her. Rose had noticed and he knew she had seen the pain in his eyes that nobody in the camp even tried to see. It was as if she wanted to help him, like she knew his pain. Of course now he knew that she did know his pain, the loss of a sibling was no easy feat, but she'd done it and she was still here. He knew in that moment when she saw what nobody else did that this girl would mean something to him like nobody else had in such a long time. Nobody had ever done that, seen him as anything but Merle's brother and automatically assumed that he was to be just like him. Sure, he looked up to Merle but he was his big brother, it was all he'd known his whole life and the world ending was not going to change that. But she didn't. She saw Daryl as Daryl, a damaged man who'd seen much pain and suffering. He wasn't sure he liked how she looked at him but he did admit to himself that it was nice to be looked at like at least somewhat of a human being, but he would never tell anyone, not even Rose. He watched Glenn hold her like he thought if he let go she would break or melt right there on the floor. That was what she needed, someone like Glenn to hold her, to talk to her, maybe even love her. She was so young, but still at that awkward age; she knew so much, but she also knew so little and that was hard enough without having to deal with walkers coming after her all this time. Daryl cursed under his breath. What would Merle say if he were here? That he was getting soft? That he needed to man up? He rolled his eyes and looked around when he spotted something lying on the floor a few feet away. He stood and walked over to pick it up, his tracking skills kicking in. It was a photo album, and he guessed it was Rose's and began skimming pictures.

The whole book was full; full of pictures of pretty much the same five people, but the further he went the more people there were. He came across one photo of two Roses. He looked at the redhead in Glenn's arms then back. She was a twin, he guessed and he wondered if she had been infected or simply died some other way, or maybe they got separated and she was still alive somewhere. He could hear Rose muttering from Glenn's lap, and all he heard was her repeating a bunch of 'sorrys' and he wanted to roll his eyes and tell her to quit whining. Some things would never change in him he guessed.

Daryl approached them and kneeled down in front of Rose with the photo album, "Is this yours?"

She stared at him and hung her head, "Yeah."

It was quiet and Daryl looked her straight in the eye, "Why'd you do it?"

She looked up at him with confusion, "Huh?"

"Why? Why'd you try and kill yourself?"

Rose looked away quickly, taking a deep breath before speaking, "I dunno. I guess I just wanted to…opt out." She looked up out of the corner of her eyes and found him staring at her with that look again, but he looked as if he wanted to slap her upside the head. She didn't blame him. She just tried to kill herself and didn't even have an explanation as to why for the two people who just saved her life. She looked at Glenn and he had a softer look, one of worry and care. She remembered the kiss and couldn't even begin to explain how much she wanted to kiss him right then but decided against it. Now was probably not the best time.

She turned back to Daryl who was still staring at her. She wasn't sure what he was thinking, but knowing him it was probably that she was an idiot and deserved to die and from her point of view at this point, she probably did. She let everyone down, Glenn who blatantly kissed her just thirty seconds before she blacked out, and Daryl, who had somehow developed a soft spot for her, probably wanted to throw her out for the walkers to eat now. Rick, who took her in and saved her life, something there was no way she was ever going to be able to repay even after all this. Then she remembered Sofia, the little girl who brought out a smile in her even in the darkest times. She sighed. How could she have been so stupid? She shook her head, looking down and letting all the shame she felt seep into her words.

"I don't have an excuse. At least, not a good enough one to want to kill myself, it's just…" she trailed off, unsure if she wanted to truly express what she was thinking. She looked up and Glenn was looked down at her with patient eyes and she was dumbfounded when Daryl took a seat across from them, leaning on the cot, though it seemed he was still watching her with judging eyes, he was still listening.

"When Jenner was talking at dinner," she began, not looking at either of them. "He said that everyone else had 'opted out.' They'd given up. And it just blew my mind that these people who probably trained almost all their lives for this one purpose, to solve problems like this and keep people safe just gave up like that. And if they can't do it, then how in the hell am I gonna do it?"

"Do what?" Glenn asked.

"Survive. Survive and get through this. I'm nineteen years old, I'd only been to college one year, how am I gonna make it in this world? Without my mom and dad and my sister and my best friends and family and," she stopped suddenly, finding herself staring right at the photo album still in Daryl's hands. That was what really bothered her and that was the thing that had even brought up the thought of killing herself because even if she did find a way to survive all of this she would not share it with the people she once loved. She leaned into Glenn's chest and he wrapped his arms around her while Daryl followed her gaze to the picture he last looked at, the one with two Roses. He set the book down in between them and pointed to the photo.

"Is this your sister?" he asked.

Rose sat up a bit and looked at, "Yeah, that's her."

"What," he paused, "What was her name?"

"Lillian. Lilly Alice." She smiled for a second.

"Is she…?"

"Infected? Yeah, third week. We didn't even make it off campus." She chuckled, "We were both going to school at Western Kentucky University, I for Spanish at first, but I eventually changed it to Social Work and she for Music Performance. They tried to evacuate us, but by the time they had something organized most everyone had been infected and it was too late. I sat with her until she changed then I ran. I tried to get back home but I only made it as far as Rick found me." She shrugged and whipped a few more tears from her rosy cheeks before pulling the book closer to her and flipping back to the front. Glenn watched ever every movement with his arms around her waist, never wanting to let her go. Daryl watched her face and he could just see the emotion drain out of her. She wasn't completely broken yet but it wouldn't be long, he could tell. He looked down when she pointed out a few of the pictures. After a few pictures he'd gathered that she was trying to hold onto these people and let them go at the same time. These pictures were her only connection to these people that she'd surrounded herself with all these years, created a circle of people, a security blanket. Eventually she would crumble without this blanket and he could already see it happen with her actions tonight. But in that moment, he made one of the strangest decisions he'd ever made in his life. Made a vow, gave himself a mission and he made this pact silently and he knew he would never tell anyone, not even his brother if he ever saw him again.

He would not let her break.


End file.
